Originally published on AI Tech Connect.
What was announced The terms surfaced through a Poolside letter to investors obtained by Eric Newcomer, and were subsequently reported by Bloomberg on 20 August 2026 and by The Information. The structure has four parts, and the structure is the story. A $6bn non-exclusive licence to Poolside's "Model Factory" — the system it used to build its Laguna family of open-weight coding models. A $1bn investment into Poolside at a $12bn pre-money valuation. Employment offers to 109 Poolside staff, reported to be the people who worked on Laguna. Explicitly not an acquisition and not an acquihire. The three co-founders remain in place and Poolside continues operating as an independent company. The $6bn licence fee is reported to be distributed to Poolside's investors by the end of 2027. One outlier…
