Facebook was the company that broke the cabal based on everything I've heard from friends at these companies. I think it actually started a little before 2011,

Facebook was the company that broke the cabal based on everything I've heard from friends at these companies. I think it actually started a little before 2011, more like the end of 2009, early 2010. Facebook was (obviously) not averse to poaching employees of other companies, and was particularly good at hiring ex-Googlers by offering large stock grants and relatively high salaries (~150k + 100k+ in options) for someone with 2-3 years of experience out of school. Google made some jaw dropping counteroffers to those who left and gave everyone a large raise and bonus at the end of 2010 as a result of the increased competition.