The talent poaching war in the technology space escalated again on Monday when Facebook swiped one of Google's (News - Alert) top corporate executives.

Amin Zoufonoun, a director of corporate development at Google, will reportedly make the move to Facebook (News - Alert) next week to help the social networking giant build up its mergers and acquisitions team, several sources told Tech Crunch.

Facebook recently raised $1.5 billion from Goldman Sachs and other investors, and has been actively looking to use its influx of cash to acquire a number of small startups and the engineering talent that will accompany them. Some reports have suggested that Facebook could purchase as many as 20 companies in the coming year. The social networking site acquired 10 companies in 2009, marking a company record.

"I think for sure over time they expect to do bigger and bigger deals," said a source close to the situation told Reuters. "They've certainly got the stock and cash to do those kinds of things. So I expect them to be more active."

The hiring of Zoufonoun should certainly help Facebook enhance its purchasing power. According to his public LinkedIn (News - Alert) page, Zoufonoun led "a number of Google’s key strategic acquisitions and investments both in the U.S. and internationally, including On2, Grandcentral (Google Voice), Metaweb, Widevine (News - Alert), Feedburner, Simplify Media, and several others."

The unnamed source told Reuters that Zoufonoun will be charged with the task of growing Facebook's mergers and acquisitions team as well as overseeing the company's corporate development initiatives.

Facebook has made several efforts to poach Google's top talent over the years, and has been successful on numerous occasions. In fact, Google was said to have given its entire staff a $1,000 bonus and a 10 percent raise last year to help ensure that they stay on board. The California-based company's management personnel were all reportedly given 30 percent raises on top of their yearly bonuses.

Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Janice McDuffee