News

In a new article for the New York Law Journal, WHW Partner Barry Rashkover and Counsel Deanna Paul examine how major technology companies are using “reverse acquihires” to absorb the talent and technology of promising AI startups without formally acquiring the companies themselves.

The article explains how these transactions, often structured through a combination of employment agreements, licensing arrangements, and commercial deals, may avoid traditional premerger review while still eliminating emerging competitive threats. The authors also discuss growing regulatory scrutiny and the potential application of existing antitrust law to transactions whose economic substance may resemble a merger, even when their legal form does not.

Read the full article, “How Big Tech Acquires AI Rivals Without Buying Them.”