4. Sun Microsystems

Sun Microsystems was one of the dominant tech companies which was about to buy Apple in the year 1996. But by 2010, Sun Microsystems was acquired by Oracle. Probably, Apple could smell out the upcoming competition while Sun has some world’s smartest employees working with. Why wouldn’t Apple want to hire some experienced hands from this well-known hardware firm either? Apple could steal almost 2000 former employees of Sun Microsystems. There were a strong links between Sun and Apple where they were once counter-punchers for making efficient and high-priced hardware.

Hired ex-Sun Microsystems employees: 1,997