Apple has entered a reverse acqui-hire deal with Huxe, a personalized audio podcast startup, to bring on team members and license its intellectual property without fully acquiring the company. The Huxe team previously worked on AI-generated podcast features for Google's NotebookLM before the startup shut down in May 2026.
Background
Reverse acqui-hires have become a popular strategy for big tech companies to acquire AI talent while avoiding antitrust scrutiny that full acquisitions might trigger. Google's NotebookLM recently added AI podcast generation features, highlighting the competitive race for audio AI technology.
- Source
- TechCrunch
- Published
- Oct 11, 2026 at 03:50 AM
- Score
- 7.0 / 10