Google Spent Nearly $2 Billion On 79 Acquisitions In 2011

Leena Rao

Leena Rao is currently a Senior Editor for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney’s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was... → Learn More

Friday, January 27th, 2012
google

Yesterday, Google filed its 10-K with the SEC, revealing the number of acquisitions and money spent on these purchases in the year. As of Q3, Google had spent over $1.4 billion on 55 acquisitions for the year. Google ended 2011 spending $1.9 billion (including cash and stock) on completing 79 acquisitions during the entirety of the year.

Some of the bigger purchases included ITA Software, which was purchased for $676 million in cash. As we know Google is spending $12.5 billion on Motorola (which isn’t included in 2011′s calculations), with a termination fee of $2.5 billion if the deal fails to get regulatory approval. The transaction is currently expected to close in early 2012.

Some of the acquisitions Google made in Q4 2011 include Clever Sense, Katango, and Apture.

In contrast, Google spent just over $1 billion on 48 acquisitions in 2010. And don’t expect Google to be slowing down the acquisition pace anytime soon. In the filing the company says: Acquisitions will also remain an important component of our strategy and use of capital, and we expect our current pace of acquisitions to continue.

In addition, the search giant’s full-time employee headcount grew 33 percent from 24,400 at December 31, 2010 to 32,467 at December 31, 2011.


Company: Google
Website: google.com
Launch Date: September 7, 1998
IPO: NASDAQ:GOOG

Google provides search and advertising services, which together aim to organize and monetize the world’s information. In addition to its dominant search engine, it offers a plethora of online tools and platforms including: Gmail, Maps, YouTube, and Google+, the company’s extension into the social space. Most of its Web-based products are free, funded by Google’s highly integrated online advertising platforms AdWords and AdSense. Google promotes the idea that advertising should be highly targeted and relevant to users thus providing...

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