Google has announced an agreement to bring in Varun Mohan, co-founder and CEO of artificial intelligence coding startup Windsurf, as part of a non-exclusive licensing deal worth $2.4 billion. The move marks the latest salvo in the AI talent wars among prominent companies.
The deal comes after Windsurf was in talks with OpenAI for a $3 billion acquisition deal, which has expired. Google will also hire other senior Windsurf research and development employees to advance its work in agentic coding. Windsurf remains free to license its technology to others.
Google is paying licensing fees and compensation as part of the deal, and the move ratchets up the competition in AI talent acquisition. Meta and Microsoft have made lucrative job offers to several employees at OpenAI, and the startup’s valuation has increased as a result.
The Windsurf co-founder Douglas Chen will be joining Google, while Jeff Wang, interim CEO and head of business, will remain with the company. Despite this, most of Windsurf’s world-class team will continue to build the product, aiming to maximize its impact in the enterprise market.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/11/google-windsurf-ceo-varun-mohan-latest-ai-talent-deal-.html