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August 25, 2025

Big Tech is eating the AI industry’s seedcorn

Reverse acquihires often leave a startup’s investors — and junior employees — in the lurch

John Thornhill

4 min read

Why buy the company when you can hire its best people? That’s the logic behind a series of reverse acquihires — as they’re known — by the big tech companies as the AI talent wars continue to rage. 

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John Thornhill

John Thornhill is Sifted’s editorial director and cofounder. He is also innovation editor of the Financial Times, and tweets from @johnthornhillft

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