Did Google Hire Oprah? (GOOG)

Oprah is known for many things, but one of her more famous moments happened a few months ago when she gave everyone in her studio audience a car. It appears Google GOOG is taking the same approach, except with jobs. Google is long known for its lavish hiring practices, as it seeks to compete with other tech titans for talent in Silicon Valley, like Facebook, Twitter and Apple AAPL. Google announced in a blog post that 2011 would be its biggest hiring year ever. “We're looking for top talent—across the board and around the globe — and we'll hire as many smart, creative people as we can to tackle some of the toughest challenges in computer science: like building a web-based operating system from scratch, instantly searching an index of more than 100 million gigabytes and even developing cars that drive themselves,” Alan Eustace, senior vice president of engineering and research, wrote in the post. The Associated Press said that Google would hire 6,200 people this year, 200 more than it's largest hiring spree, which happened in 2007. Google isn't being stingy about pay either. Google gave all its employees a raise of 10% or more and a $1,000 cash holiday bonus in November.