Talent acquisitions seem like a strange solution to many of the problems here. If you only have 50 mobile devs and simply need more competent bodies, why drop

Talent acquisitions seem like a strange solution to many of the problems here. If you only have 50 mobile devs and simply need more competent bodies, why drop millions buying out a social networking startup? Hiring isn't that hard, and the acquisition approach essentially guarantees you hires who want to make their own projects in a different domain. Pick up some devs the normal way, it's not impossible yet. My general view is that acqui-hires are a way to bring on top-flight talent that will continue doing similar work once hired. If you need a world class VR or deep learning expert, you might have to pick them up this way; they're worth it, and they'll probably stay on if you keep giving them interesting tasks in the same domain. Mayer's acquisitions don't follow that model at all. They picked up fairly mundane startups and then redirected the (probably quite competent) founders to unrelated corporate tasks. That seems like a waste at both ends. edit: on second thoughts, most of these are peanuts compared to what they're paying Couric...