Overview

• OpenAI’s planned $3 billion purchase of Windsurf fell through this week after its exclusivity window lapsed amid disputes with Microsoft over intellectual property access
• Google DeepMind agreed to a roughly $2.4 billion license-and-compensation package to hire Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen and select R&D staff for its Gemini agentic coding project
• Under the terms, Google receives a non-exclusive license to core Windsurf technologies without acquiring equity or control in the startup
• Windsurf named head of business Jeff Wang as interim CEO and promoted Graham Moreno to president while most of its 250 employees remain focused on enterprise AI coding tools
• The deal exemplifies a growing trend of acqui-hire and licensing arrangements by major tech firms to secure top AI talent and capabilities while sidestepping full acquisitions and regulatory scrutiny