History of Google Acquisitions [Infographic]

While Google was founded in 1996, much of their insane growth didn’t start until the 2000s. A key part of Google’s strategy beginning in 2001 have been acquisitions. Google has acquired over 100 companies since acquiring Deja in 2001. The search and advertising giant has spent over $22 billion on acquisitions. This infographic takes a deep look at the history of Google acquisitions, including looking at some of the biggest successes and biggest flops.

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Many of Google’s biggest product lines and innovations have come via acquisitions.

Blogger, Google+ and Android are just three examples of products that were heavily developed through mergers and acquisitions. Google looks for companies that are a strategic fit for what Google is working on both now and in the future. They also look at personalities of the founders and entrepreneurs with passion.

Despite their rigid selection process, Google acquisitions aren’t always successful. Around 2/3 have achieved success post-acquisition. Dave Sobota, Director of Corporate Development, isn’t concerned though.

“If some haven’t been failures, then we aren’t taking enough risks,” he said. Among the biggest flops in Google’s acquisition history is Dodgeball, which was acquired in 2005 by Google. The founders of Dodgeball ended up leaving Google after the company didn’t support their product the way they had hoped.

They ended up starting a new location-based app called Foursquare. Google has also been under fire for some more recent acquisitions. Their $1 billion purchase of Waze is under anti-trust review.

Their much ballyhooed purchase of Zagat may have already gone by the wayside. Trends show that Google will continue to be one of the biggest players in tech acquisitions for years to come.