Apple has once again pulled off a "take the people and technology home" move. In documents submitted to regulatory authorities, the company revealed that it has struck a "reverse acqui-hire" deal with personalized audio startup Huxe — meaning it has acquired the core team members of the company and also obtained the rights to its technology. According to MacRumors, Apple confirmed in a filing to the European Commission that it has extended employment offers to "certain employees of Huxe AI," while also obtaining a non-exclusive license to Huxe's intellectual property.

"Reverse acqui-hire" is a strategy that has become popular in recent years: instead of acquiring an entire startup, big companies just hire the key team and then license the technology. This approach allows them to build up AI talent and a technology library without triggering antitrust scrutiny. These deals are sometimes simply called "acqui-hires," a term that can be confusing, but the essence remains the same — buying people and technology, not the company itself.

The background of Huxe's team is particularly interesting: its founders were the developers who created the "AI-generated podcast" feature in NotebookLM (recently renamed Gemini Notebook). Unfortunately, the company itself did not last long. On May 21, Huxe suddenly announced its shutdown, posting a farewell message on its website stating that it would remove the app from Apple and Google stores, stop services, and delete user data. The team wrote candidly: "We are moving on to new things, and this product will no longer be developed." The text also included a heartfelt thank you to users — "you used it, told your friends, gave us feedback and ideas, and made us feel like we built it together."

Apple followed up quickly. Shortly after Huxe's announcement of closure, on June 9, Apple reported the transaction to the European Commission. However, the document was restrained: it did not name who received the job offer or whether they accepted it, nor did it reveal what Apple plans to do with the team and their technology.

An intriguing footnote is that Huxe's shutdown announcement came the day after Spotify launched its own AI-powered podcast generation feature (Q&A and summary generation). As a result, the public naturally connected the two events and speculated that Apple's acquisition of the team might be aimed at adding similar personalized audio capabilities to its Podcasts app. Tech executives seem especially fascinated by the idea of replacing regular podcasts with personalized audio, even imagining possibilities for parent-child interactions; however, how many regular listeners will actually embrace it remains unclear so far.