--- title: "South Korea's newly drafted acqui-hire merger rule will let most Big Tech AI talent raids go unreported in its first year." description: "The Korea Fair Trade Commission's draft guideline, open for public comment until 30 September, extends its existing \"business transfer\" merger category to organised staff transfers, triggered once a d" url: "https://bilby.ai/predictions/p/94/south-korea-s-newly-drafted-acqui-hire-merger-rule-will-let-most-big-tech-ai-tal" markdown: "https://bilby.ai/predictions/p/94/south-korea-s-newly-drafted-acqui-hire-merger-rule-will-let-most-big-tech-ai-tal.md" index: "https://bilby.ai/llms.txt" --- > For agents: Bilby answers questions about what governments do, from documents collected at source and checked by research analysts. To ask Bilby yourself, connect to its MCP server at https://pulse.bilby.ai/mcp (setup: https://docs.bilby.ai/developers/mcp-server). Every page on this site is also markdown: add .md to its address, or send Accept: text/markdown. https://bilby.ai/llms.txt lists them all. # South Korea's newly drafted acqui-hire merger rule will let most Big Tech AI talent raids go unreported in its first year. - **Made:** 9 Sep 2026 - **By:** Marco Law - **Market:** South Korea - **Outcome:** Unresolved The Korea Fair Trade Commission's draft guideline, open for public comment until 30 September, extends its existing "business transfer" merger category to organised staff transfers, triggered once a deal clears 10 billion won (roughly $7 million) or 10% of the seller's total assets, alongside proof the buyer now runs the seller's former business or has gutted its revenue. Most acqui-hired AI startups are pre-revenue with no sales to gut, so that qualitative test, not the modest monetary one, will keep filings rare. [Ask Bilby about this prediction](https://pulse.bilby.ai/?prompt=South%20Korea's%20newly%20drafted%20acqui-hire%20merger%20rule%20will%20let%20most%20Big%20Tech%20AI%20talent%20raids%20go%20unreported%20in%20its%20first%20year.) ## Ask Bilby about it Carry the prediction into a question: what has changed since, who decides, and who is exposed. - [What has changed since it was made?](https://pulse.bilby.ai/?prompt=What%20has%20changed%20since%20Bilby%20predicted%20this%3F%20South%20Korea's%20newly%20drafted%20acqui-hire%20merger%20rule%20will%20let%20most%20Big%20Tech%20AI%20talent%20raids%20go%20unreported%20in%20its%20first%20year.) - [Who decides whether it happens?](https://pulse.bilby.ai/?prompt=Who%20decides%20whether%20this%20happens%3F%20South%20Korea's%20newly%20drafted%20acqui-hire%20merger%20rule%20will%20let%20most%20Big%20Tech%20AI%20talent%20raids%20go%20unreported%20in%20its%20first%20year.) - [Who gains and who loses if it does?](https://pulse.bilby.ai/?prompt=Who%20gains%20and%20who%20loses%20if%20this%20happens%3F%20South%20Korea's%20newly%20drafted%20acqui-hire%20merger%20rule%20will%20let%20most%20Big%20Tech%20AI%20talent%20raids%20go%20unreported%20in%20its%20first%20year.) ## More from South Korea 27 predictions on South Korea so far, newest first. - 4 Nov 2026 · [Rhythm Pharmaceuticals is likely to exceed US$750 million in rare-obesity drug sales in 2027, more than double the annual sales pace implied by its third-quarter 2026 results.](https://bilby.ai/predictions/p/203/rhythm-pharmaceuticals-is-likely-to-exceed-us-750-million-in-rare-obesity-drug-s) · Unresolved - 27 Oct 2026 · [Washington’s South Korean advanced memory chipmaker anti-China restrictions will hit Samsung much harder than Beijing.](https://bilby.ai/predictions/p/188/washington-s-south-korean-advanced-memory-chipmaker-anti-china-restrictions-will) · Unresolved - 26 Oct 2026 · [South Korea’s steel market pushes back on China yet harder.](https://bilby.ai/predictions/p/187/south-korea-s-steel-market-pushes-back-on-china-yet-harder) · Unresolved [All 27 from South Korea](https://bilby.ai/predictions/log?tag=south-korea) · Marked true or false when each resolves ## See what we’re seeing next. New predictions in the Asia Daily Take, free every weekday, and in Bilby whenever you have a question. [Get the Asia Daily Take](https://bilby.ai/asia#asia-daily-take) · [Try Bilby](https://pulse.bilby.ai/sign-up)