“$620 million for non-exclusive licensing fees for the technology (meaning Inflection is free to license it elsewhere) and $30 million for Inflection to agree not to sue over Microsoft’s poaching”
Microsoft takes Inflection’s co-founders and most of its staff without buying the company. The roughly $650 million pays early investors 1.5x and later ones 1.1x. Those investors include Bill Gates, Microsoft itself, and Greylock, the VC firm of Microsoft board member Reid Hoffman. Microsoft’s board looked after Microsoft’s board. Call it a licensing deal and the acquisition never has to be called one.