What is Acqui-hiring?

Mergers and acquisitions have long been popular techniques for increasing one's market share or becoming a market leader. Acqui-hiring is a mergers-acquisition strategy in which a larger corporation purchases smaller companies (usually startups) to access their intellectual employees. Occasionally, a startup with unviable operations gets purchased by larger competition, allowing the founders to recoup their investment and continue to exist.

Acqui-hiring does not always imply a total merger. It entails arranging a deal to release some employees in exchange for a "per head" payment based on employees' knowledge, skills, and competence for the new function.

The term combines the acquisition of the word and hire. We understand that acquisition occurs when one firm purchases another and recruiting occurs when one organisation hires another. Acqui-hiring is essentially taking over a business to hire its staff. The purchasing business isn't interested in the other company's products or services; it only wants its skilled personnel.

Merger & Acquisition vs Acqui-hiring

Acqui-hiring occurs when a firm is purchased for its talent rather than its goods, services, or technology. In other words, it refers to acqui-hiring a squad of blue squirrels with an established track record. The acquisition is a corporate transaction in which a firm buys the majority, if not all, of another company's ownership holdings to assume control of it.

Acqui-hiring is a new way to acquire talent

"War for Talent" is returning, but with a new twist: "War for Technical Talent." Business executives confront various issues, ranging from a severe talent shortage to a generational transition in the face of the millennial workforce. As the tech revolution gathers steam from the Internet of Things, big data, cloud technology, and so on, it has become critical for organisations to recruit the finest engineers to overcome the competition and emerge as market leaders.

Intense competition and shifting labour objectives make it incredibly difficult for companies to recruit and keep competent employees. As the talent competition becomes more severe, firms are turning towards new recruiting tactics such as Acqui-hiring.