Bloomberg reports that after Character.AI filed for bankruptcy reorganization, the relevant documents reveal the follow-up arrangements: Disney has agreed to hire more than 60 of the company's employees — while public information shows this virtual character chat platform has only about 86 staff in total, meaning nearly 70% of the team is being "packaged" and taken over in one go. In exchange, Disney will pay this group a cumulative total of about $180 million (roughly 1.207 billion yuan) in salaries over the first three years.
This move had long been in the works. Weeks earlier, Character's former CEO Karandeep Anand had already been brought into Disney's fold, backed by a broader technology licensing agreement that allows Disney to legally use the AI company's core capabilities. On October 12 local time, Character.AI formally filed for voluntary bankruptcy with the federal bankruptcy court in Delaware, and intends to sell part of its IP licensing to Disney for 20 million USD (about 134 million RMB).
An Additional 30 Million in Retention Bonuses to Save a Team on the Verge of Collapse
For a team at rock bottom, this amounts to a critical way out. Character.AI itself admitted that internal "morale was extremely low," and the company stood on the cliff's edge of a mass exodus. On top of regular salaries, Disney has additionally earmarked 30 million USD (about 201 million RMB) in retention bonuses, part of which will be paid out in installments at the first and second anniversaries of the deal's closing—essentially using cold, hard cash to keep people in their seats.
From 20 million to buy IP, to 180 million to keep the team, plus another 30 million to retain key people, Disney has shrewdly used the bankruptcy auction to acquire quality assets and talent at a low price. As for the engineers who built their careers on chatbots, although the platform has fallen, their jobs were unexpectedly secured because a giant holding valuable IP stepped in — in this auction, what ultimately gets paid for is not just the assets, but also the first three years of an entire team.