Google Maps Mastermind Gets Poached by Facebook

Sydney-based co-founder of Google maps, Lars Rasmussen, has jumped ship quite literally all the way across the Pacific. This month will see Rasmussen join Facebook in California’s infamous Silicon Valley. In a recent interview with the Sydney Morning Herald the highly-lauded computer engineer was full of praise for Facebook, whose estimated employees number 2,000 while Google’s sits at a staggering 25,000. During the interview he repeatedly commented on Google’s unwieldy size which in turn made it a lot harder to ‘make an impact’.

Despite Rasmussen’s switch in allegiances Google Australia's engineering director, Alan Noble, wished him well while reconfirming his ‘great contributions’ to the company. Rasmussen personally received an invitation from Mark Zuckerberg, the 26-year-old renowned Facebook creator, which simply stated: ‘come hang out with us for a while and we'll see what happens'. For Lars Rasmussen this was more than persuasive. The Sydneysider also lead the team that created Google Wave and although it received the go-ahead from co-founder Sergey Brin, was scrapped shortly after its May 2001 launch.

It seems the rest of Silicon Valley have been talking with Apple whispers saying despite the well wishes from Google the mega-business were anything but happy. Though Facebook’s number of permanent employees runs in at 2,000 the number of contractors is another thing. We’re talking an ‘employee total of around the 6,000’, said one Apple employee.