I'm sure there's some accounting wizardry that helps make this viable, but it could just be the optimal strategy if a Big Tech company has a warchest of cash, b

I'm sure there's some accounting wizardry that helps make this viable, but it could just be the optimal strategy if a Big Tech company has a warchest of cash, but knows some of it could be hemorrhaged by taxes (or the costs related to transferring funds) if it isn't spent. $20 million to acquire a development team for a few new features may seem like a lot, but it is a more surefire thing than spending $10 million to hire, design, and build a competitor.