Comment by Temporary_31337

3. (From zero authority here as I’ve never bought a company:)

Perhaps the acquired employees might prefer this for tax reasons. If they stand to profit mainly via capital gains, that is wildly better than receiving ordinary income, like a bonus, would be.

Or, a completely different, unverifiable possibility:

An acquisition does not set any precedent for compensation of any kind. As a general rule corporations hate paying humans, but don’t mind paying other corporations.

3. It's very hard to know what kind of compensation employees are actually getting in an acqui-hire. I've been involved in a few of these - money flows through the cap table, so investors and founders get most of it depending on liquidation preference. Retained employees get a typical, levelled offer + some cash/stock (probably more stock) incentive with the usual 1 year cliff and 3-4 year earn-out. Incentives are also usually contingent on specific business goals.

In other words, the scenarios I've seen if the acquired company is not doing well the acquirer pays off the investors and gives the employees a small bonus contingent on staying for 1+ years and hitting goals. It's not necessarily a crazy windfall.

1. probably something with AI in it. You got maybe 2-3 years before the bubble pops.

2. branding. cultural awareness can take years or more, and I'm sure coporate knows by now that their brands aren't the best thing to slap onto every scenario. Disney is well learned in this kind of conduct.

3. Because the last thing you want in an aquihire is for all the talent your poaching to jump ship. Some employees may have even worked there previously and used a company to get away from that corporate culture.

So a lot of an aquihire's money tends to go towards golden handcuffs.