I was Applied Research, feature X was for internal use. The companies were supposed to be tallent and tech acquisition, they claimed to have feature X but were faking it. The 'talent' was fresh out of university people crammed in last minute to bulk up numbers. The VCs funding the startups had a pre-existing relationship with the VP who joined the company in a similar earlier acquisition. One of the VCs approached me about doing a purpose built start-up of my own, the purchasing company and sale amount was already determined, quick easy money. It was clear making working technology was orthogonal to the real objective of extracting huge amounts of money large tech companies. I only cared about the tech so it wasn't of interest to me. Even 10 years later feature X doesn't exist even though it's entirely tractable. It's possible that it may never get built which would be a shame.

It doesn't bother me anymore. It's just people being people. I'm enjoying the series The Expanse lately because of the way it integrates realpolitik into the storyline.