[paulpauper]

Yeah, a lot has changed since then and his post does not age well. The post-2008 era of trillion-dollar tech companies and winner-take-all markets, like social media and apps, necessitates superlative talent to get products out to market fast to capture invaluable market share. The difference between being early or late can mean missing out on literally hundreds of billions of dollars of valuation. It is not irrational at all for huge tech or finance companies to pay top dollar for talent when the returns are so great and things are so competitive, too. Paying $500k/year or more is immaterial when you're talking trillions of dollars.