Acqui-hiring, where a company is acquired primarily to gain its talent, rather than its products or technology, might seem to be a new trend in the technology business, but it has been going on for many decades.
The practice of acquiring companies for their talent dates back at least to the 1980s, but the term "acqui-hire" was coined in the mid-2000s. Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, and Yahoo frequently used acqui-hires to secure top engineering talent, although the new spin involves moves that hire the talent while avoiding an acquisition of the target company.
Facebook’s acqui-hire of FriendFeed (2009) and Drop.io (2010), and Google’s purchases of Slide and Like.com, are early examples.
Google’s acquisition of DeepMind and Api.ai, and Facebook’s acqui-hire of Little Eye Labs provide other examples.
Acqui-hires have regulatory benefits for hyperscalers and other dominant firms as it avoids the scrutiny actual firm acquisitions would tend to generate. Hiring people does not create a basis for examining the impact on market structure and competition, as the dominant firm does not actually acquire the smaller firm or its market share.
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