HALO Deals: Hiring Talent, Licensing IP

1. What is a HALO Deal? A HALO deal is a modern method of acquisition where

a large company (like a "cloud giant") essentially does two things simultaneously to acquire the most

valuable parts of a smaller startup: Hiring ("H"): They hire a select, key group of employees—usually

the founders and the most critical technical team members (the "A-Team"). Licensing Out ("LO"):

They acquire a non-exclusive license to the startup's intellectual property (IP), but they do not

buy the entire company outright. 2. Why Companies Use HALO Deals (The

Loophole) According to the comments, large tech companies use HALO deals for

several reasons: Regulatory Avoidance: The biggest driver is to skirt anti-trust enforcement and