Tag

#antitrust

Articles tagged antitrust.

The Reverse Acquihire Leaves Somebody Holding the Company
Startups & Funding

The Reverse Acquihire Leaves Somebody Holding the Company

Google reportedly paid $2.7 billion in 2024 to license Character.AI's technology and hire its founders. Two years later the company it left behind is in bankruptcy with a $20 million opening bid. Hank Reed on the deal structure big tech keeps using, and what it leaves for everyone who stays.

Hank Reed
Nvidia Reflection AI Talks: A Bigger Stake or a Full Purchase of the $25 Billion Open-Weight Lab
Startups & Funding

Nvidia Reflection AI Talks: A Bigger Stake or a Full Purchase of the $25 Billion Open-Weight Lab

Nvidia is in early talks to deepen its investment in Reflection AI or buy it outright, the Financial Times reported. Reflection was valued at $25 billion in its last round, and Nvidia has reportedly already invested about $800 million.

Jordan Beck
Groq Shareholder Lawsuit: What Ex-Engineers Allege About Nvidia's $20 Billion Deal
Startups & Funding

Groq Shareholder Lawsuit: What Ex-Engineers Allege About Nvidia's $20 Billion Deal

Two former Groq engineers sued the company's board in Delaware, alleging the $20 billion license-and-hire arrangement with Nvidia skipped a required stockholder vote and shortchanged common holders. Groq calls the suit meritless.

Jordan Beck
Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic Are Reportedly Building Their Own Safety Regulator, Modeled on FINRA
Policy & Regulation

Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic Are Reportedly Building Their Own Safety Regulator, Modeled on FINRA

The three labs have approached Sriram Krishnan to run a proposed self-regulatory body tentatively called the Frontier AI Standards Agency, modeled on FINRA and targeted to launch by early 2027. None of the companies has announced it.

Nadia Rao
Four Subscribers Sued the Frontier Labs, Calling the AI Pacing Pledge Collusion
Policy & Regulation

Four Subscribers Sued the Frontier Labs, Calling the AI Pacing Pledge Collusion

A proposed class action filed September 18 in federal court in San Francisco alleges Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI, and Google violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act by agreeing to slow model improvement. It is a complaint, and no class has been certified.

Nadia Rao
The DOJ Is Probing Whether Nvidia Built the Groq Deal to Dodge Merger Review
Policy & Regulation

The DOJ Is Probing Whether Nvidia Built the Groq Deal to Dodge Merger Review

The Justice Department sent Nvidia a formal demand for information about its roughly $20 billion Groq licensing deal, examining whether it was structured to avoid antitrust review. The probe lands while Nvidia's Hugging Face acquisition heads into the conventional review Groq skipped.

Sam Whitaker
Nvidia Signed the Hugging Face Deal, and This Is the One That Has to Clear Antitrust
AI & ML

Nvidia Signed the Hugging Face Deal, and This Is the One That Has to Clear Antitrust

Nvidia and Hugging Face entered a definitive merger agreement on September 2 valued at $12,930,300,000, with roughly $11.9 billion to stockholders and up to $1 billion in retention equity. It closes in the first half of 2027 and is the largest deal Nvidia has ever put through conventional merger review.

Maya Iverson
Uber Is Buying Delivery Hero for $14.8B. The Combined Map Spans 99 Markets.
Big Tech

Uber Is Buying Delivery Hero for $14.8B. The Combined Map Spans 99 Markets.

Uber agreed to acquire Germany's Delivery Hero in a $14.8 billion all-cash takeover at EUR 41.50 per share, nearly doubling its footprint to 99 markets. Regulators get the final word, with the close targeted for late 2027.

Sam Whitaker
States Asked an Appeals Court to Reverse the FTC-Meta Antitrust Loss
Policy & Regulation

States Asked an Appeals Court to Reverse the FTC-Meta Antitrust Loss

A coalition of states and DC has asked a US appeals court to reverse the lower-court ruling that effectively ended the FTC's monopoly case against Meta.

Nadia Rao