Meta Lures Top Apple AI Executive With $200M Deal—Here’s What It Means

Meta has reportedly secured one of Apple’s top artificial intelligence executives, Ruoming Pang, with a staggering compensation package exceeding $200 million, according to Bloomberg.

Pang, who previously led Apple’s Foundation Models team that powered key Apple Intelligence features—including Genmoji, Priority Notifications, and email summaries—is now heading to Meta’s newly formed Superintelligence Labs. This elite division focuses on building advanced AI systems designed to match or exceed human intelligence.

Unprecedented Compensation Package

It is being claimed that Pang’s package includes a substantial base salary, a hefty signing bonus, and significant stock awards, most of which are performance-based and tied to long-term retention.

This massive compensation package makes Pang one of the highest-paid individuals in the tech industry, reportedly even rivaling the salaries of CEOs at many global investment banks. The compensation also surpasses those of all other top Apple executives—except Tim Cook.

Notably, Apple did not attempt to match Meta’s offer.

Meta’s Bold Hiring Strategy

This isn’t the first time Meta has made a bold move like this. In a recent podcast interview, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that Meta has been offering signing bonuses of up to $100 million to poach top AI talent.

Leadership Changes at Apple

Following Pang’s exit, Zhifeng Chen has been appointed the new head of Apple’s Foundation Models team. Reportedly, the company has also adopted a more distributed leadership structure, delegating responsibilities among several senior engineers in a move to minimize losses caused by such talent poaching.

Superintelligence Labs Assembles Star-Studded Team

With this company switch, Pang joins a growing list of high-profile recruits at Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, including former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, AI startup founder Daniel Gross, and Scale AI co-founder Alexandr Wang.

Do massive offers like this help drive innovation or just create a talent monopoly? Let us know what you think in the comments.