The recent deal between Meta and AI startup Scale, in which Meta will acquire a 49% stake, is quite uncommon.

According to Scale’s official announcement, the deal values the company at over $29 billion, and will result in the “distribution” of proceeds to shareholders and vested equity holders, providing them with “substantial liquidity” while allowing them to maintain their shareholder status.

Additionally, Meta will be hiring Scale’s renowned founder and CEO, Alexandr Wang, who notably dropped out of MIT at the age of 19 to establish the company, which specializes in AI training data verified by humans.

While it may seem that Meta is purchasing shares from existing shareholders, sources have informed Bloomberg that this is not the case. Instead, investors will receive dividends, as confirmed by TechCrunch. For example, Accel, an early backer of the company, is expected to receive a payout of $2.5 billion, according to Bloomberg. (Accel declined to comment.)

Scale has numerous backers, including Amazon and Meta, and was previously valued at $14 billion after raising $1 billion in a Series F funding round last year. A dividend payout of this magnitude is essentially equivalent to acquiring the company. The regulatory response to this deal remains to be seen.