Hackathons in general should be viewed with a serious amount of skepticism because it mostly is, as Liu notes, a way to get you to work for a company for (basically) free.<p>That being said, this sounds above-and-beyond scummy based on the information provided. The lack of transparency and the fact that the grand-prize winner worked at Salesforce for 9 years is a seriously questionable combination.<p>Aside from apologizing profusely, though, I don't know what Salesforce does here. It'd be pretty mean to yank the guy's prize (and would only lend credence to the conspiracy argument), but doing nothing or promising to "do better in the future" will certainly be a PR hit for Salesforce both in terms of recruiting and future activities sponsored by them.<p>They're in a tough spot, though I don't really pity them since it was their own doing.