Speaking from an Entrepreneurial perspective an "Acquihire" is what our investors like to call a "Soft Landing" AKA we ran out or are running out of money with

Speaking from an Entrepreneurial perspective an "Acquihire" is what our investors like to call a "Soft Landing" AKA we ran out or are running out of money with little to no traction. Typically an Acquihire is not much more than a way to give your investors back something so you will not give yourself a black eye in the investment community and you'll have the opportunity to raise money again in the future. In many cases Acquihires are set up by current investors who know you're struggling and looking for a way out. As investors in you they would much rather see something like this than "we're shutting down our product and parting ways" that does no good for anyone. So while its not always a good investment some acquihires really are, even though the CEO or CTO may leave fairly quickly from a high profile acquihire chances are some members of the team (key members) will stick around for their earn out, enjoy the froyo and build some kickass new products for the company which has given them new found stability. From an investor perspective Acquihires are just the polite thing to do, One could call it Failing gracefully