- Acqui‑hires under review: The FTC will probe deals where tech giants hire startup talent and licence technology without full acquisitions to potentially sidestep antitrust checks.
- Tech giants in focus: Recent examples include Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon hiring key talent through licensing or recruitment deals.
What happened：FTC probes Big Tech talent deals for potential antitrust risks
In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Andrew Ferguson, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States, announced that he would begin to examine the talent acquisition transactions of large technology companies more strictly. These transactions are usually called “acquisition Recruitment”, which means that large technology companies hire employees of start-ups and obtain their technology licenses, without directly acquiring these companies, which may enable them to bypass the anti-monopoly merger and acquisition review.
Examples of this trend include: Nvidia obtained chip technology authorization from start-up Groq and hired its CEO at the same time; Microsoft obtained the executives in the field of AI in the way of licensing fee rather than traditional acquisition. According to reports, Meta spent about $15 billion to hire the CEO of Scale AI, but did not buy the company; Amazon poached the founder from Adept AI.
Although regulators have noticed the transactions, none of them have yet been revoked. The FTC’s measures reflect concerns that such talent acquisition methods may be used to restrict competition, so that market leading enterprises can lock in top talents and strategic technologies without triggering regulatory review.
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Why it’s important
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States has decided to review talent oriented transactions, which shows that regulators are increasingly concerned about how large technology companies consolidate their competitive advantages in addition to traditional M & A activities. By examining whether these arrangements are aimed at circumventing anti-monopoly regulation, the FTC seeks to maintain fair competition in the technology industry.
This focus on “talent acquisition” is consistent with broader anti-monopoly interests, including the previous investigation on the cooperative relationship and alliance between large cloud computing and artificial Intelligent Company that may restrict the market access of small developers. As innovation increasingly relies on highly skilled engineers and know-how, the way these talents and intellectual property rights are acquired will have a long-term impact on market vitality and industry concentration.
The results of this review may not only affect the structure of the transaction, but also affect people’s broader understanding of regulatory risks, because large technology companies are expanding in the fields of artificial intelligence, cloud computing and advanced semiconductors, which are crucial to economic competitiveness and national security.
