Besides earning billions through its online and mobile advertising platforms, the immense success of Internet search giant, Google Inc. can be easily realized and appreciated with the most expensive acquisitions by Google. Throughout its glorious existence, Google has always been at the vanguard of providing the best of services to millions of users across the globe and more than often, these offerings are absolutely free of charge. So you might ask, “How does Google make money?” The answer is, via its expansive, comprehensive and extremely efficient advertising services that range from online websites to mobile platforms etc. Since its inception, Google has believed in the power of innovation and hence, instead of hostile takeovers or other heavy acquisition steps, the search behemoth looks for opportunities especially in startups and then offers them a chance to be a part of Google, to be a part of something revolutionary.
Google has spent billions of dollars on numerous take overs and acquisitions in an effort to further improve and expand its services, while providing startups and other relatively smaller companies with a unique opportunity to experience a robust growth under Google’s umbrella. Understanding the immense value of Google’s business ventures and the company’s out of the box thinking as well as practices, here at World Most Expensive, we are proud to present the 10 Most Expensive Acquisitions By Google.
Now that we are sole focused on the accomplishments of Google Inc., you might also like to give a read to the 20 Most Expensive Google AdWords Keywords.
1. Motorola Mobility
Year of Purchase: 2012
Price: $12.5 Billion
One of the oldest names in the field of mobile phones, Motorola Mobility has finally been acquired by the Internet behemoth Google Inc. for a mind blowing price of $12.5 billion. Considered to be the king of the most expensive acquisitions by Google Inc., the search giant officially took over Motorola Mobility in the month of May this year and Google has stated the company will run the newly acquired entity as a separate business altogether. Motorola is widely considered to be the pioneer of the mobile revolution, with the first ever commercial mobile handset introduced in the year 1983 and with its merger with Google Inc., the company is now expected to play an even more vital role in Google Android OS success, as well as Google’s mobile strategy.
2. DoubleClick
Year of Purchase: 2008
Price: $3.1 Billion
Taking lead in a fierce bid against Microsoft Corporation, Google Inc. in the year 2008 successfully brought and acquired online advertising platform, DoubleClick for a staggering amount of $3.1 billion. DoubleClick, which was founded in the year 1995 by Kevin O’Connor and Dwight Merriman is said to be one of those very few companies that managed to survive the bursting of the ‘dot-com bubble’. In the year 2005, DoubleClick was purchased by Hellman & Friedman and JMI Equity, where in both private equity firms paid a combined $1.1 million. The acquisition of DoubleClick by Google, which is also hailed as one of the most expensive acquisitions by Google enabled the search giant to make use of the company’s display advertising technology, along with DoubleClick’s clients and networks. Besides the display advertisements, DoubleClick also provided state of the art software for major websites, such as the likes of MySpace, The Wall Street Journal and America Online, which enabled such websites to review and maximize their ad revenue figures.
3. YouTube
Year of Purchase: 2006
Price: $1.65 Billion
The biggest online video sharing website, YouTube, was acquired in the year 2006 by Google Inc. thereby creating a brand name that has now made it to nearly all corners of the globe. The takeover was conducted in an all-stock deal for a whopping $1.65 billion and witnessed the search behemoth stepping into the world of online video sharing. The primary reason behind the acquisition of Google turned out to be that the video sharing website’s popularity presented lucrative opportunities for Google in terms of revenue generation from advertising. Google Inc. and YouTube share a similarity in reference to Sequoia Capital, a venture investment firm that was one of the founding investors in Google and owned about 30% stake in YouTube as well. The timing of YouTube acquisition by Google coincided with the video sharing site’s three partnership agreements with Universal Music Group, CBS Corp. and Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
4. AdMob
Year of Purchase: 2009
Price: $750 Million
In the year 2009, search engine giant Google Inc. invested an incredible $750 million acquired one of the most successful mobile advertising companies, AdMob. With the emergence of the mobile sector as a highly lucrative vertical, Google sought to purchase the company with the most experience in the development as well as application of mobile advertisements. Besides using AdMob’s experience, tools and manpower for a greater reach into the mobile arena, Google also decided to let the mobile advertising big hitter continue with its current operations. The acquisition of AdMob by Google turned to be a rather smooth transaction, as two investment companies, Sequoia Capital and enjoy their respective shares in both Google as well as AdMob. Widely accepted as one of the most expensive acquisitions by Google, this particular deal not only ensured that the search behemoth will have a greater foothold in the mobile advertising sector, but it also ensured continued growth and success of AdMob.
5. ITA Software
Year of Purchase: 2010
Price: $700 Million
We have to a time in regards to the Internet, where Google Inc. seems to be present in just about every category and commercial vertical. In the year 2010, with an aim to grasp a foothold in the travel industry, Google surprised the tech world with the acquisition of renowned flight search engine, ITA Software for $700 million. Considered to be one of the most expensive acquisitions by Google, this particular deal enabled the search giant to tap into the massive database as well as the technology of ITA Software, which has made a name for itself by organizing airline data, including flight times, availability, prices and presenting them to the users in an extremely useful and efficient manner. The reason behind the acquisition as stated by Google was to provide an expansive platform to the users, airlines and online travel agencies, while empathizing on the fact that Google will not sell air tickets to users. However, such a huge step was bound to face significant resistance and so it did with an anti-Google ITA drive entitled, “Fairsearch” that was initiated by Microsoft, TripAdvisor, Expedia, Kayak, and Hotwire. Inspite of such efforts, in the month of July 2011, new surfaced that Google was planning to launch a dedicated travel search product that will be entirely powered by ITA Software technology.
6. Postini
Year of Purchase: 2007
Price: $650 Million
A leading name in the field of on-demand communications security and compliance solutions, Postini was acquired by Google Inc. in the year 2007 for a staggering sum of $650 million. Established in the year 1999 by Shinya Akamine, Gordon Irlam, Brian Maggi, and Scott Petry, at the time of its acquisition, Postini had in its portfolio some 35,000 businesses and 10 million users across the globe. The company was primarily tasked with the development of systems and services that ensured message security, archiving, encryption, and policy enforcement for corporations and individual users. With the conclusion of the deal, Postini became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Google and the search king implemented Postini’s security services in its very own Google Apps, thereby making them all the more secure. The current entity known as ‘Google Postini Services’ provides its clients with products that are designed and developed to help protect and secure a company’s email, instant messaging, and other web-based communications platforms.
7. AdMeld
Year of Purchase: 2011
Price: $400 Million
Expanding its reach and in an effort to establish and even more significant presence in the world of online advertising, search giant Google Inc. acquired ad optimization company AdMeld last year for a whopping$400 million. The New York based AdMeld provided publishers and advertisers alike with tools and services that enabled them to increase their revenues, by optimizing display ads. The company with its stellar clientele that included the likes of Fox News, and the Weather Channel managed these display ads by tapping into a plethora of sources and ad networks. As per the details released, AdMeld was designated to work separately from DoubleClick, however, Google is said to be in a brainstorming mode to bring both these acquired entities to a common platform. The deal between AdMeld and Google which is hailed as one of the most expensive acquisitions by Google has even been given the green light by the U.S Department of Justice, thereby clearing the way for the acquisition.
8. Slide.com
Year of Purchase: 2010
Price: $182 Million
Stepping into the highly lucrative and exceedingly successful realm of social networking, Google Inc. purchased Slide.com, a company dedicated towards development of socials apps for $182 million in the year 2010. Slide.com carried a portfolio of applications designed specifically for various social networking services, such as the likes of MySpace and Facebook and some of its most popular applications included SuperPoke, FunSpace and Top Friends. It seems at the time, Google envisioned the use of Slide.com and its vast experience as a profitable tool to Google’s own social network offering Google+. However, just a year later it was been announced that Google closing doors on Slide.com with the departure of company’s founder Max Levchin and as of March 6th, 2012, Slide.com has officially gone out of business. It has been observed that even with a $182 million investment in the purchase of Slide.com, Google wasn’t able to fully integrate the service in its business model and eventually had to shut down the entire entity.
9. On2 Technologies
Year of Purchase: 2010
Price: $124 Million
In the year 2009, Google once again focused on the stream of online videos, as the search giant closed a $124 million deal that enabled it to acquire On2 Technologies, a leading name in the field of video compression technology. The acquisition was announced in the year 2009, but only realized the next and the final price paid by Google Inc. turned out to be $18 million more than the price decided upon in 2009. On2 Technologies carried quite an impressive list of clients that included Skype, Nokia, Sony and Adobe. The company offered its clients video compression solutions that were applicable for mobile video, embedded devices, Adobe Flash Player and VoIP services. With the acquisition of On2 Technologies, Google envisioned a more robust application of video compression technology, while advancing the same to new heights.
10. dMarc Broadcasting
Year of Purchase: 2006
Price: $102 Million
After establishing its near absolute dominance in the online advertising realm, search engine Google in the year 2006 turned its attention to commercial radio, with the acquisition of dMarc Broadcasting for a hefty $102 million. dMarc Broadcasting was in the business of bringing advertisers in contact with U.S radio station via its automated advertising platform. This particular technology further simplified the processes of sales, scheduling, delivery and reporting of radio advertising, thus enabling advertisers to swift and efficiently manage their ad campaigns and enhance revenue generation. Considered to be one of the most expensive acquisitions by Google, the search behemoth announced its plans of creating a deep integration of dMarc with Google AdWords, thereby expanding the reach of Google advertisers into the radio industry. Also, Google stated that the dMarc Broadcasting will continue to operate as before and no noticeable change will be made to the company’s customers’ experience.
