Character AI: Google paid 2.7bn, took the founders, and the company filed for bankruptcy two years later.
Windsurf: Google paid 2.4bn for the CEO and a licence.
Scale AI: Meta paid 14bn+ for 49% and hired the CEO.
InflectionAI: Microsoft paid ~$650m, hired the founders and most of the staff.
Covariant: Amazon paid ~$400m, took the founders and a quarter of the team.
I observed the pattern that big tech prefers a “license‑and‑hire” model, which often leads to the target startup’s dissolution, posing a risk to employee equity.