Does it seem lately, like every time you check the news, a new company, service or site has been acquired? Every week it feels like another piece of the Web is being snapped up at some pretty impressive prices.
We thought it might be a good time for a round-up of some of the more interesting (and relevant) recent acquisitions of the last year or so. Following is a graph which outlines recent acquisitions by date:
| Date | Purchaser | Service | Price | Details | Ref |
| 18-Jul-05 | News Corp. | MySpace | $580,000,000 | social community | More |
| 23-Dec-05 | Microsoft | GeoTango | 3D-design toolmaker | More | |
| 9-Feb-06 | Microsoft | DynaComm i:filter product from FutureSoft | Web filtering | More | |
| 13-Feb-06 | Microsoft | MotionBridge | Mobile Search | More | |
| 14-Feb-06 | Measure Map | Analytics | More | ||
| 9-Mar-06 | Upstartle (Writely) | Web-based document editor | More | ||
| 14-Mar-06 | @Last Software (SketchUp Pro 6) | 3D-design toolmaker | More | ||
| 9-Apr-06 | Orion | Referential Search Engine | More | ||
| 4-May-06 | Microsoft | Massive | in-game advertising | More | |
| 4-May-06 | Microsoft | Vexcel | radar, mapping & Satellite | More | |
| 9-May-06 | Microsoft | DeepMetrix | Web analytics | More | |
| 18-May-06 | Microsoft | Microsoft Acquires Whale (MAY 18, 2006) | VPN & Firewall | More | |
| 20-Jun-06 | Microsoft | CareerBuilder.com stakes | (4%? Share) Job Service | More | |
| 15-Aug-06 | Neven Vision | Face Recognition | More | ||
| 23-Aug-06 | Sony | Grouper | $65,000,000 | video sharing | More |
| 27-Sep-06 | Yahoo | Jumpcut | online video editing | More | |
| 9-Oct-06 | YouTube | $1,650,000,000 | Video Sharing | More | |
| 12-Oct-06 | Microsoft | Colloquis | conversational online business solutions | More | |
| 17-Oct-06 | Yahoo | AdInterax | rich media advertising | More | |
| 31-Oct-06 | JotSpot | wiki service provider | More | ||
| 31-Oct-06 | CondeNet | news aggregator | More | ||
| 10-Nov-06 | Motorola | Good Technology | mobile software | More | |
| 17-Nov-06 | Yahoo | Kenet Works | Swedish mobile | More | |
| 4-Dec-06 | Apple | Proximity Corporation | media broadcasting software | More | |
| 18-Dec-06 | Endoxon | Mapping company | More | ||
| 28-Dec-06 | Xunlei | $5,000,000 | (4% investment) Chinese video site | More | |
| 8-Jan-07 | Yahoo | MyBlogLog | $10,000,000 | (price estimate) Blog Community | More |
| 17-Jan-07 | dMarc Broadcasting | $102,000,000 | Radio Advertising | More | |
| 15-Feb-07 | AdScape | $23,000,000 | in-game advertising | More | |
| 26-Feb-07 | Microsoft | Medstory | Medical Search engine | More | |
| 14-Mar-07 | Microsoft | Tellme | $800,000,000 | (price estimate) voice-enabled & mobile services | More |
| 16-Mar-07 | Trendalyzer | data plot animations | More | ||
| 26-Mar-07 | Microsoft | devbiz (TeamPlain) | Web access to Microsoft Visual Studio Team System | More | |
| 27-Mar-07 | Best Buy | Speakeasy | $97,000,000 | broadband & VOIP | More |
| 30-Mar-07 | Yahoo | Wretch | $21,000,000 | Taiwan social networking | More |
| 13-Apr-07 | DoubleClick | $3,100,000,000 | Advertising Platform | More | |
| 17-Apr-07 | Tonic Systems | Presentation Software | More | ||
| 18-Apr-07 | Ebay | StumbleUpon | $40,000,000 | website sharing community | More |
| 19-Apr-07 | Marratech (Just software, not the company) | Video Conferencing | More | ||
| 23-Apr-07 | Technorati | Technorati acquires Personal Bee | news aggregator | More | |
| 30-Apr-07 | Yahoo | Right Media | $680,000,000 | (80% share) Advertising Network | More |
| 3-May-07 | Microsoft | ScreenTonic SA | mobile advertising | More | |
| 16-May-07 | AOL | AdTech | ad-serving network | More | |
| 17-May-07 | WPP | 24/7 Real Media | $649,000,000 | advertising agency | More |
| 18-May-07 | Microsoft | aQuantive, Inc. | $6,000,000,000 | Advertising Network | More |
| 22-May-07 | 23andMe | $3,900,000 | (investment only) Biotech (genome browser) | More | |
| 23-May-07 | Feedburner | $100,000,000 | RSS Feed Tracker | More | |
| 28-May-07 | GreenBorder | internet software sandbox | More | ||
| 30-May-07 | CBS | Last.fm | $280,000,000 | online music network | More |
Acquisition Spend Over Time
Following is a graph of acquisition spend numbers over time (click for larger graph):
Acquisition Groups
There appears to be a trend towards buying companies in specific industries. Following is a run-down on which industries seem to be popular:
| Industry: Advertising | |||
| Date | Purchaser | Service | Business |
| 4-May-06 | Microsoft | Massive | in-game advertising |
| 17-Oct-06 | Yahoo | AdInterax | rich media advertising |
| 17-Jan-07 | dMarc Broadcasting | Radio Advertising | |
| 15-Feb-07 | AdScape | in-game advertising | |
| 13-Apr-07 | DoubleClick | Advertising Platform | |
| 30-Apr-07 | Yahoo | Right Media | (80% share) Advertising Network |
| 3-May-07 | Microsoft | ScreenTonic SA | mobile advertising |
| 16-May-07 | AOL | AdTech | ad-serving network |
| 17-May-07 | WPP | 24/7 Real Media | advertising agency |
| 18-May-07 | Microsoft | aQuantive, Inc. | Advertising Network |
| Industry: Mobile | |||
| Date | Purchaser | Service | Business |
| 13-Feb-06 | Microsoft | MotionBridge | Mobile Search |
| 10-Nov-06 | Motorola | Good Technology | mobile software |
| 17-Nov-06 | Yahoo | Kenet Works | Swedish mobile |
| 14-Mar-07 | Microsoft | Tellme | Voice-enabled & mobile services |
| 3-May-07 | Microsoft | ScreenTonic SA | mobile advertising |
| Industry: Mapping, 3D & “Local” Related | |||
| Date | Purchaser | Service | Business |
| 23-Dec-05 | Microsoft | GeoTango | 3D-design toolmaker |
| 14-Mar-06 | @Last Software (SketchUp Pro 6) | 3D-design toolmaker | |
| 4-May-06 | Microsoft | Vexcel | radar, mapping & Satellite |
| 18-Dec-06 | Endoxon | Mapping company | |
| Industry: Video Related | |||
| Date | Purchaser | Service | Business |
| 23-Aug-06 | Sony | Grouper | video sharing |
| 27-Sep-06 | Yahoo | Jumpcut | online video editing |
| 9-Oct-06 | YouTube | Video Sharing | |
| 28-Dec-06 | Xunlei | (4% investment) Chinese video site | |
| 19-Apr-07 | Marratech (Just software, not the company) | Video Conferencing | |
Based on these 4 industries, following is a chart outlining the distribution of industries in recent acquisitions (click for larger graph):
Analysis
From this data, it may be possible to assume the following:
- Online Advertising is heating up in a big way with major investments across the board as companies scramble over each other to gain the most market share now
- Google either doesn’t care about Mobile services, or is developing systems in-house
- Yahoo is either no longer interested in capitalizing on it’s earlier success with maps, or is developing systems in-house
- While Google is investing heavily in video, Microsoft is either behind the ball or is developing systems in-house
It’s probably only natural that the overall “Advertising” Industry is gaining the most attention at the moment. As more and more traditional marketers realize the potentially lucrative opportunities here (and the fact that Search Inventory is limited), more and more ad inventory will be needed. Hence, the Ad Inventory Gold Rush is on.
Anyone need a shovel?
(Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments)
Late Additions:
New acquisitions since this article was posted about an hour ago:
