Leaving to rejoin Google, key staff driving Apple search engine

INA - SOURCES 

Four years after Laserlike was acquired by Apple to boost its web search technology, the founders have quit to rejoin Google.

Prior to forming Laserlike in 2015, Anand Shukla, Srinivasan Venkatachary and Steven Baker were all Google employees. Their work at Apple is one reason the company has been predicted to launch its own search engine equivalent to Google's.

Apple acquired Laserlike in 2018, though the deal wasn't made public until the following year. As part of the acquisition, the company's three founders were, and ultimately they led a 200-strong search team at Apple.