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Procuring Talent Through 'Acquihire' Agreements
Entertainment industry take note: The gold in the gold rush in tech M&A is talent to develop and integrate artificial intelligence technology. Faced with a shortage in skilled employees, buyers are using "acquihires," a discreet M&A strategy that oftentimes flies under the news radar, to bolster AI benches.
The surge in AI acquihires is likely to persist for the foreseeable future. Leading technology companies are dedicating a significant share of their R&D budgets to AI research. Pitchbook reported that in 2020 Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Google and Amazon spent a combined $133.5 billion on R&D with a significant portion budgeted for AI (see, https://bit.ly/3nYSdFa). Globally, there were 286 AI-related acquisitions in 2019. In 2020, the number of AI transactions increased to 449, an annual growth rate of over 50%, and 2021 appears to be keeping pace.
An acquihire is a transaction where a buyer is primarily motivated to acquire key talent rather than a business itself or its products. The transaction can be structured as an asset sale, stock purchase, merger or even simply a release of relevant employees from non-compete arrangements coupled with a defensive license to the intellectual property developed at the employees' former firm.
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