Acquikill (acquire + kill)

“Acquibill” (acquire/acquisition + kill) is a term used among tech startups. A larger company might not like the competition, so it acquires the startup and then kills its product. “He wrote about Facebook trying to acquikill his startup App.net with App Center” was cited in print in December 2012. “Fun neologism: ‘acquikill’” was cited on Twitter on March 19, 2013.
     
 
TechCrunch
If Facebook’s Not Buying WhatsApp, It Sure Seems Like It’s Building It
Alexia Tsotsis
Tuesday, December 4th, 2012
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In fact, Dalton Caldwell called this strategy “formulaic” in a post he wrote about Facebook trying to acquikill his startup App.net with App Center.
   
Unicorn Free
Why We Shut Down Charm on the Eve of Public Launch, at $48k/Year and Growing
This entry was posted on Thursday, February 7th, 2013 at 1:50 pm
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Two, if you treat your customers right, they’ll treat you right. Unlike some services that get acquikilled, we didn’t just shut down and delete data without warning.
 
Twitter
Perry Hewitt‏
@perryhewitt  
Fun neologism: “acquikill” as in “in a post…about Facebook trying to acquikill his startup” http://bit.ly/nHmS7E  See also: Dodgeball
5:07 PM - 19 Mar 13
 
Twitter
Perry Hewitt‏
@perryhewitt  
Yahoo makes an “acquikill” Yahoo Buys Summly — Paying $30M To Kill The App, But Keep Its 17yo Founder http://buff.ly/YbbpgL
5:52 AM - 27 Mar 13
 
Twitter
Jennifer Bohmbach
‏@evoljennifer  
you’ve heard of acquihire now it’s time for acquikill (probably happens a lot) http://allthingsd.com/20130403/disney-shuts-down-lucasarts/ …
1:01 PM - 3 Apr 13