If so, it would be in the unusual shape that it is a top-dollar one rather than cover-the-failure-with-a-pretty-ending one. But in this case, Zoom is probably actually interested in the security tech that Keybase has apart from the talent, they're just not interested in the product.

did i miss something? how do you know its top-dollar? no dollar amount was disclosed.

No, you didn't miss anything. As you probably expected, it's just my deductions from context. I may be completely wrong. I still do believe in them, but obviously no one else needs to.

keybase doesn't have any 'security tech', zoom just needs a plausible fig leaf for the analysts that somehow associates with security.

Do "acquihires" work in practice? It reminds me of this Dilbert comic: https://dilbert.com/strip/2014-07-31