Apple revealed in Regulatory documents That it has reached an agreement to bring in team members and technology from personal voice startup Huxe, in what is commonly known as a hire-back deal.
for the first time Reported in MacRumorsApple disclosed to the European Commission that it has agreed to make employment offers to “certain employees of Huxe AI,” and “obtained an unrestricted license to Huxe’s intellectual property rights.”
Reverse acqui-his has emerged in recent years as a way for large companies to hire key team members and license technology from startups without buying the startups outright — potentially allowing them to build AI capabilities and technologies without much antitrust considerations. (Confused, these two agreements have been Called “repurchased hire” and “purchased hire.”)
In Huxe’s case, the startup was founded by a developer who previously worked on the AI-generated podcast feature in NotebookLM (recently renamed Gemini Notebook). But Huxe announced on May 21 that it was shutting down, the team announced Huxe website That the company will remove its app from the Apple and Google stores, stop the service, and delete user data.
“The team is moving on to something new, and we will not continue to develop the product,” the company said. It also thanks its users, saying, “The fact that you have used it, told friends about it, sent us your suggestions and ideas, makes it feel like we created it together.”
On June 9, shortly after Huxe’s announcement, Apple notified the European Commission of its agreement.
The document does not say who received the job offer or whether they accepted it. It did not reveal anything about Apple’s plans.
Possibly related: The Huxe shutdown announcement comes just a day after Spotify unveiled its own AI-powered podcast production feature, so Apple may be hoping to add similar functionality to its Podcasts app. Technology executives seem enamored with the idea Personal audio can replace regular podcasts (And maybe even parent-child interactions?), though it’s unclear how many regular listeners agree.
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