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I would love to know what the typical acquisition process for Google is like. Where does it start (product team, management, engineering, etc)? How long does it take? How intense are the negotiations? Are deals typically cash or stock?

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You probably have to sign an NDA about it.

Indeed we did. Although I wasn't involved in the negotiations proper I can say from working with Halvar (I'm the BinDiff lead) that google is a tough bargainer... Intense indeed ;-)

Any idea where you will end up, and what you'll be doing?

We'll work at the Zürich office. We are not (yet) allowed to talk about what we'll be doing.

My understanding is that the level of disclosure depends on the circumstances. For small acquisitions by large companies, it's generally difficult to find information, especially for an asset purchase. For larger acquisitions (and other transactions) by US-listed public companies, if the threshold of materiality is met--usually around 5% of the pre-transaction market value of the acquirer--there will typically be public disclosure of the consideration paid, and sometimes further documentation such as fairness opinions, etc.

That said, the individual employees are typically subject to all kinds of agreements as part of the acquisition, including NDAs.

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