Google should have bought the company. They didnt. They basically bought the employees. They call it a "acquihire".
That's just called "hiring". In order to "acquire-hire" employees of the target company, one must first "acquire" the company and the "hiring" part just comes along with the deal. In this case, Google skipped the "acquire" part.
Do you know what are the mechanics that allowed the VCs to get repayed, but not the employees who did not take the Google offer? Is this an issue with liquidation preference, or was there something more shady going on that truly allowed VCs to make a “big” exit, while the employees owning common shares did not?
That's just called "hiring". In order to "acquire-hire" employees of the target company, one must first "acquire" the company and the "hiring" part just comes along with the deal. In this case, Google skipped the "acquire" part.