Meta's case might be different, and hence i wrote it as scale would have been acquired in past times instead of an investment like they did today. For other companies, the hiring aspect avoids M&A filings, balance sheet consolidation, and still give the big tech companies access to IP and talent. Easier path to get what you want than say Wiz acquisition still waiting to be completed. The stance may have recently changed, but seems like big tech companies are not testing it. (it's also not just US, but other jurisdictions have a say too. Meta had to sell Giphy due to issue raised by UK/Europe)

Re Microsoft and Windsurf, this[1] article claims Windsurf did not want MS accessing it's intellectual property, a default condition for Microsoft OpenAI deal.

> Windsurf didn’t want Microsoft to have access to its intellectual property — a condition that OpenAI was unsuccessful in getting Microsoft’s agreement on, people familiar said. That was one of several sticking points in Microsoft and OpenAI’s ongoing talks about the AI company’s effort to restructure into a commercial entity. Microsoft’s existing agreement with OpenAI says the software giant is entitled to access the startup’s technology.

This is different from Microsoft not wanting openai to compete with Github copilot, given thats what they do with Codex anyway.

> Knowledge is extremely valuable when it comes to AI/ML We agree on that, but even in the past most acquisitions would value teams at a certain cost too. Without the team that built it, any company would struggle to get a good multiple. OP's claim was that lower multiple was cos of margins only, and i disagreed there.

[1]: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-11/openai-s-...