Google hires Windsurf CEO and researchers to advance AI ambitions
(Reuters) -Google has hired Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen, and select members of the coding tool's research and development team to join its DeepMind division, a Google spokesperson said on Friday, in a move to strengthen itself in the race for AI leadership.
Mohan and the Windsurf team will focus on agentic coding initiatives at Google DeepMind, primarily working on the Gemini project.
The development comes as tech giants including Alphabet and Meta Platforms aggressively chase high-profile acquisitions and offer multi-million-dollar pay packages to attract top talent in the race to lead the next wave of AI.
"We're excited to welcome some top AI coding talent from Windsurf's team to Google DeepMind to advance our work in agentic coding," a Google spokesperson told Reuters.
Google will not acquire any stake in Windsurf, but will receive a non-exclusive license to certain Windsurf technologies.
The Verge reported on Friday Windsurf's head of business, Jeff Wang, has been appointed its interim CEO, and Graham Moreno, vice president of global sales, will be president, effective immediately.
The majority of Windsurf's roughly 250 employees will remain with the company, which has announced plans to prioritize innovation for its enterprise clients.
The move effectively ends OpenAI's planned acquisition of Windsurf. Previously, OpenAI had agreed to acquire the company for about $3 billion, Bloomberg News reported in May.
(Reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
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