I. Overview A traditional acquisition is usually easy to recognize: a buyer purchases the target’s stock, acquires its assets, or merges with the target.[1] Artificial intelligence ("AI") dealmaking is making that picture less tidy because buyers can obtain a startup’s people, know-how, and technology rights without purchasing the startup itself.[2] Morgan Lewis reported that AI attracted more than half of global venture capital funding in 2025.[3] At the same time, "acqui-h

On March 17, 2025, PepsiCo announced that it would be acquiring Poppi for a net purchase price of $1.65 billion. [1] The deal included a potential earnout consideration “subject to the achievement of certain performance milestones within a specified period after closing of the transaction.” [2] The buyer in the acquisition is PepsiCo, an international company serving over 200 countries and territories world-wide. [3] In 2024, PepsiCo earned nearly $92 billion in net reve