If you find a rare talent, you pay him a rare salary, or his next employer will.

If this guy got that big of a raise, push for one yourself.

In my own case, I took a process that was taking more than an entire workday to run, and got it down to a matter of minutes.

Who's worth more, the people in the company who were there for years, or the new hire that just saved the company millions? Now I know you say he did very little work, but he did put in for the promotion and got it. You didn't. You can't fault someone for ambition.

As you said, there may be factors in play you don't know about. IF he moved over to marketing, he might have a skill that blew them away.

Still, you're not paying the bills. Wish him well, or find another company, anything else will just give you headaches.

If you find a rare talent, you pay him a rare salary, or his next employer will.

If this guy got that big of a raise, push for one yourself.

In my own case, I took a process that was taking more than an entire workday to run, and got it down to a matter of minutes.

Who's worth more, the people in the company who were there for years, or the new hire that just saved the company millions? Now I know you say he did very little work, but he did put in for the promotion and got it. You didn't. You can't fault someone for ambition.

As you said, there may be factors in play you don't know about. IF he moved over to marketing, he might have a skill that blew them away.

Sometimes you find a rare diamond in the rough, or someone who's working a job, but is immensely qualified for another one. In my case, I had been out of work due to a stroke, and took a very low-level job to get my foot in the door. I was better than they thought, and both my employer and I are happy with the results. This could be a similar case. He may not have been good in his past role, but someone saw something in him. Take it as inspiration, maybe you're a diamond in the rough as well.