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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#AcquiredValueYearWhy Acquired?
1Motorola Mobility$12.5B2012Primary for Intellectual Property to Launch Google Phones
2Nest Labs$3.2B2014Marked Google’s entry into the home automation space
3DoubleClick$3.1B2007Intended to complement Google’s existing ad business
4Looker$2.6B2019Google’s current focus on growing its cloud offerings
5Fitbit$2.1B2019Google expects the acquisition to strengthen its Wear OS efforts as it attempts to catch up with Apple
6YouTube$1.7B2006Google anticipated the shift from traditional media
7Waze$1.15B2013Helped Google improve Google Maps functions
8HTC – Pixel Smartphone Division$1.1B2017Significant part of HTC’s smartphone team (underlining the Android maker’s focus on competing with iPhone maker Apple
9AdMob$750M2009Anticipation of the massive proliferation of mobile ads
10ITA Software$700M2011Expand the tech giant’s search capabilities and to power Google Flight Search