Bending Spoons makes first post-IPO acquisition with $1.3B Airtable deal

Bending Spoons just made its first big buy since going public, snapping up Airtable in an all-cash deal worth about $1.285 billion—and the internet instantly turned this business story into a full-on comment-section soap opera. For anyone not living in software land, Airtable is the popular tool that lets teams organize work like a spreadsheet mixed with a simple app builder. Bending Spoons, meanwhile, has become known for buying internet companies and reshaping them fast. The deal is expected to close later this year, pending approvals.

But the real fireworks were in the reactions. One camp basically said: what a strange time to buy this kind of company, with one commenter calling it a “bold move in a vibe coding world,” a very online way of saying the tech crowd is obsessed with AI-made apps right now. Another crowd went straight to doom-posting, predicting “entshittification” of Airtable—a blunt internet term for when users fear a product will get worse after a takeover. Ouch.

Then came the money drama. Several commenters were stunned Airtable sold for “just” $1.3 billion, saying the product seemed to be everywhere. Others started doing back-of-the-napkin math about revenue, past fundraising, and cash on hand, basically wondering: how does a company this visible end up with a price tag that feels so low? And for pure chaos, one joker compared it to rumors about other eye-popping AI deals, asking how Airtable could be worth only a fraction of them. In classic internet fashion, the acquisition news was big—but the real event was everyone arguing over whether Airtable is a bargain, a warning sign, or the next victim of corporate makeover madness.