This sounds like an acquihire to me: -Shutting the product down -Deal is worth "millions" which could mean $2M

My guess is nobody is being made a multi-millionare off this. But I'm not playing a tiny violen, getting acquihired is actually rare/hard to do so good job to them and the team.

He appeared on the BBC News channel (here in the UK) earlier this afternoon and it was suggested, though not confirmed, to be in the dozens of millions (£ not $).

I don't know if they edited the article, but right now it says "dozens of millions of pounds", which would mean at least £24 million, or roughly $36 million.

"Dozens of millions of pounds" => > 24M

...and shuts it down.

I don't understand why they did that... couldn't they have just offered him at job at £200,000 a year? I'm sure he'd have accepted.

Edit: Typo