acquihire

acquihire

English

Alternative forms

• acqhire
• acq-hire
• acquhire
• acqu-hire
• acqui-hire

Etymology

Coined 2005 by Rex Hammock as acqhire, blend of acquire +‎ hire,[1] in reference to acquisition of Dodgeball.com by Google. Hammock subsequently worked to popularize the word.[1] Spelling inconsistent, particularly to difficulty in pronunciation (/ak-hire/), leading to longer variants.

Verb

acquihire (third-person singular simple present acquihires, present participle acquihiring, simple past and past participle acquihired)

1. To acquire a company to recruit its employees, rather than for its products or services.
   • 2005, Rex Hammock, “Google acquires(?) Dodgeball.com”, May 11, 2005:

     Acqhire – When a large company “purchases” a small company with no employees other than its founders, typically to obtain some special talent or a cool concept. (See, also: NFL first round draft signing bonus; book publishing “advance” after publisher bidding-war.)

Noun

acquihire (plural acquihires)

1. An acquisition of a company to recruit its employees, rather than for its products or services.
   • 2013, Marc Andreessen, comment in “Weary of ‘Fruit Fly’ Consumer Startups, Andreessen Horowitz Raises Series A Bar”, Hacker News, 2013 October c. 11th:

     There are a lot of really excellent founders pursuing consumer ideas that just never work -- that's why companies like Yahoo and Google and others can do so many acquihires.

Usage notes

Particularly used in technology sector for acquisition of small startup companies.

References

1. Buzzword Watch: "Acq-hire", September 28, 2010, Ben Zimmer, Word Routes: Exploring the Pathways of our Lexicon