Google Hires Windsurf’s CEO in $2.4 Billion AI Talent Acquisition Deal

Google is making another big move in the world of artificial intelligence. As reported by CNBC, Google has hired Windsurf’s CEO Varun Mohan in a major talent deal worth $2.4 billion. Mohan is the co-founder and CEO of Windsurf, an AI coding startup. Along with him, other senior researchers and developers from Windsurf will also join Google.

This is not a full company acquisition where Google will take a nonexclusive license to use parts of Windsurf’s AI technology. Windsurf will remain an independent company and is free to work with others. The $2.4 billion deal includes payments for both the license and the team’s compensation.

Google’s Deepmind Hires Windsurf Ceo and Team for AI Development

The team from Windsurf will now work at Google’s DeepMind, the company’s advanced AI research group. Google said the new talent will help them improve agentic coding, which uses AI to write and manage software code.

“We’re excited to welcome some top AI coding talent from Windsurf’s team to Google DeepMind to advance our work in agentic coding,” said a Google spokesperson. They also added that Google will continue working on its AI platform, Gemini, which helps developers use AI tools.

Along with Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen will also join Google. Windsurf’s business head, Jeff Wang, will now take over as the company’s interim CEO. “Most of Windsurf’s world-class team will continue to build the Windsurf product,” Wang shared in a post on X.

Windsurf has become popular for “vibe coding,” a new way of using AI tools to help both developers and non-developers write code faster and easier. The company has grown quickly and now competes with other similar tools like Cursor.

$2.4 Billion Windsurf Deal Shows Rising AI Talent Wars

This $2.4 billion deal comes after Windsurf was in talks with OpenAI for a full buyout worth $3 billion. That deal didn’t work out, and Google stepped in with this offer instead. While OpenAI wanted to buy the whole company, Google chose to hire key people and license the technology.

This is part of a bigger trend called AI talent wars. Big tech companies like Google, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft are all racing to hire the best AI experts. Meta recently hired several OpenAI staff and made Scale AI’s founder, Alexandr Wang, head of its AI strategy. Microsoft also hired teams from AI startups like Inflection and added more AI tools to its coding software.

Google’s DeepMind hired Windsurf’s CEO in the same way it hired talent from another AI startup, Character.AI, last year. Instead of buying companies, tech giants are now focused on hiring top talent directly and getting access to key technology through licenses.

Even after the deal, Windsurf will keep building its products. With its strong team and growing demand, the company will remain an important player in the world of vibe coding and AI tools for developers. As interest in AI continues to rise, the battle for top talent is only getting stronger.