it's not only US megacorps, a lot of well funded tech companies pay salaries close to what Amazon or Google pay and they have to as that's what the market demands. As a software engineer in Berlin i can't really say i don't like that though. Berlin rents might have doubled since 2010, but they were also way below other german capitals due to Berlins history, so the rents coming to the same level as say Hamburg or Munich was just a matter of time anyway. In the end it creates value for the city, higher tax income, more spending. Yes, gentrification is a problem, but it's far less of a problem here then in other major capitals.