In case you couldn’t tell, the House of Mouse was in on Character.AI’s bankruptcy from the start.

Wired reports that Character filing for bankruptcy and agreeing to sell assets to Disney last week was the second of “two interrelated and integrated” transactions. The first, which took place in September, involved Disney hiring a “majority” of the chatbot startup’s employees, a familiar move from the “acquihire” playbook. [Link: Disney Asked Character.AI to Go Bankrupt for a Get-Out-of-Lawsuits Card | https://www.wired.com/story/disney-asked-characterai-to-go-bankrupt-for-a-get-out-of-lawsuits-card/ | WIRED]