CB Insights used its M&A data to create a visual timeline of the
largest acquisitions in the company’s history. See the list of top 10 below,
as provided by CB Insights.
How does this help Google/Alphabet Business Strategy?
These top deals reflect Google’s Business Strategy evolution, from Adtech
(AdMob, DoubleClick) in the late 2000s to mobile (Motorola Mobility, Apigee)
and wearables (Fitbit) in the 2010s. With a huge war chest of cash, many
times firms like Alphabet opt to acquire vs build.
Even if these acquisitions don't yield the desired results, they do
provides a leg up on either competition through:
A) Acquiring Tacit knowledge
B) Monetizing the intellectual property (IP)
Top-10 companies Acquired by Google from 2006 to 2019:
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| # | Acquired | Value | Year | Why Acquired? |
| 1 | Motorola Mobility | $12.5B | 2012 | Primary for Intellectual Property to Launch Google Phones |
| 2 | Nest Labs | $3.2B | 2014 | Marked Google’s entry into the home automation space |
| 3 | DoubleClick | $3.1B | 2007 | Intended to complement Google’s existing ad business |
| 4 | Looker | $2.6B | 2019 | Google’s current focus on growing its cloud offerings |
| 5 | Fitbit | $2.1B | 2019 | Google expects the acquisition to strengthen its Wear OS efforts as it attempts to catch up with Apple |
| 6 | YouTube | $1.7B | 2006 | Google anticipated the shift from traditional media |
| 7 | Waze | $1.15B | 2013 | Helped Google improve Google Maps functions |
| 8 | HTC – Pixel Smartphone Division | $1.1B | 2017 | Significant part of HTC’s smartphone team (underlining the Android maker’s focus on competing with iPhone maker Apple |
| 9 | AdMob | $750M | 2009 | Anticipation of the massive proliferation of mobile ads |
| 10 | ITA Software | $700M | 2011 | Expand the tech giant’s search capabilities and to power Google Flight Search |
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