Apple discloses deal to hire Huxe team and license its tech
The personalized podcast startup shut down in May, and Apple has now disclosed a reverse acqui-hire.
Labs#04
May 21
Huxe announced its shutdown
Image: TechCrunch
May 21Huxe announced its shutdown
The short version
- Apple disclosed in a regulatory filing that it reached an agreement to bring on team members and technology from Huxe, a personalized audio startup.
- Apple told the European Commission it agreed to make employment offers to certain Huxe AI employees and to receive a non-exclusive license to Huxe's intellectual property rights.
- Huxe was founded by developers who had worked on the AI-generated podcast features in NotebookLM, and it announced on May 21 that it was shutting down.
- The filing does not say who received employment offers or whether they accepted.
Why it matters
Reverse acqui-hires let larger companies add AI talent and technology without buying the startup outright, which can draw less antitrust scrutiny. For developers, the deal shows how big tech is picking up teams from products that have closed. Apple could be hoping to add similar AI podcast features to its Podcasts app, but the filing does not say.
“The team is moving on to new things, and we won’t be continuing development of the product”