Big Tech ‘acquihiring’ is an ugly but useful trend

(Image: Getty)

Sat, 19 Jul 2025

By Parmy Olson(Bloomberg Opinion) -- If you’re a venture capitalist, you dream of backing the next billion-dollar startup to one day feast on the returns of a sale. The buyer? A gargantuan tech company, of course. But these days, Big Tech isn’t buying so much as “acquihiring” the most promising artificial intelligence (AI) firms, specialised deals that scoop up the industry’s hottest talent while avoiding antitrust scrutiny, often by leaving behind business operations, a.k.a. the husk of a company.'I disli...

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