Top 3 Signals This Week
1) Sam Altman says Meta is offering $100 million to poach his employees
“They started making giant offers to a lot of people on our team,” Altman said Tuesday on the “Uncapped” podcast hosted by his brother Jack.
“You know, like $100 million signing bonuses.”
Altman said that Meta’s attempts to poach his staff have failed, at least so far.
“None of our best people have decided to take them up on that,” Altman said.
“There’s many things I respect about Meta as a company, but I don’t think they’re a company that’s great at innovation,” Altman continued. “I think we understand a lot of things they don’t.”
➤ Could this be the start of an AI talent war?
Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/18/tech/meta-openai-sam-altman-100-million
2) DataStax Officially Joins IBM
DataStax, which builds tools to help developers and companies build a bold new world through GenAI, has officially joined IBM. While M&A across most sectors has slowed due to tariffs and global uncertainty, demand for backend AI infrastructure is accelerating. Legacy tech giants like Meta, Salesforce, and ServiceNow are scrambling to keep pace with OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic, making firms like DataStax prime targets.
➤ Why it matters: AI models like those from OpenAI or Google are impressive, but they rely heavily on huge volumes of data to learn, adapt, and perform well. That data isn’t just neatly organised; it comes in many forms (structured like databases, unstructured like text or images). Managing, processing, and serving this data quickly and reliably at scale is a massive technical challenge.
Companies like DataStax specialise in handling this complex data infrastructure. Without strong data management platforms, AI models can’t function effectively in real-world applications. So, the “real value” isn’t just the model itself but the entire system that feeds and supports it.
That’s why industry leaders are investing heavily in building scalable, reliable data platforms to support AI growth. This reflects how AI tech is evolving beyond just model development toward the full stack of data infrastructure.
Read more: https://www.datastax.com/blog/datastax-joins-ibm
3) Flightstory Hired Harri Walsh as the Head of Happiness & Health
Steven Bartlett’s company Flightstory, best known for Diary of a CEO, has created a Head of Happiness & Health role focused on employee wellbeing and purpose at work.
➤ Why it matters: Coming from a top creator recently named by Forbes alongside Mr Beast, this hire isn’t about perks, it’s a signal. In a time of rising loneliness and declining trust in institutions, companies are experimenting with deeper forms of culture-building.
💡 Headhunter’s Lens
The hiring landscape right now is noticeably softer compared to last year.
Our view of what’s causing this comes down to a few factors:
- Global economic uncertainty
- Ongoing geopolitical conflicts
- The impact of AI on businesses
AI adoption remains high on the agenda for most companies. Non-AI native firms are figuring out how to embed GenAI into business workflows to boost productivity and reduce costs. Traditional companies may take longer to apply GenAI meaningfully, but agile start-ups are already testing and integrating it into their operations.
Back to the hiring pulse of the market.
Companies are still figuring out who and when to hire to grow. When people leave, non-critical roles often aren’t being replaced. Instead, companies are asking: can we use AI to fill that gap?
Many are also taking a wait and see approach given today’s uncertain geopolitical and challenging economic climate. Without clarity, it’s tough to forecast business growth, which leads to paused hiring plans.
We believe these combined factors are making companies hesitate to invest and grow their teams for now, until they adjust to this new world order. Layoffs are still happening too, as firms look to cut costs and adapt to market changes.
🚀 Executive Move to Watch
Kyndryl, one of the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider, has appointed Guat Ling Ang as Managing Director for its Singapore business. In this role, Ang will provide strategic leadership and direction for Kyndryl Singapore, a key hub supporting the company’s IT infrastructure and digital transformation services across ASEAN. She brings expertise in application and infrastructure services and is expected to strengthen Kyndryl’s focus on AI and IT modernisation.
📬 One to Forward
🎧 Sam Altman on the Future of AI