The cast of “Silicon Valley,” courtesy of HBO.
In the final season of HBO’s tech-focused comedy series, “Silicon Valley,” the show brought to light a little-known but long-standing government committee with the ability to control, and even block, foreign investment in the United States.
In Season 6, fictional mega-corporation Hooli’s CEO, Gavin Belson, suffers major disappointment when he finds out the U.S. government is blocking his latest Hail Mary cost-cutting scheme. In the show, Belson goes on a tirade when a mysterious committee called the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, puts the quash on his plans to move the company to the country of Georgia due to national security concerns based on a U.S. general’s use of a Hooli app that helps U.S. military personnel find illicit romantic encounters abroad. Is this for real? Can CFIUS really stop U.S. companies from activities like relocating?
