Long back, Google buying out companies was a rare proposition. However, the fall of the 21st century has changed all that. Since 2001, Google Inc. has acquired well over 100 companies. Most purchases were within the price range of $10M to $100M, with the odd exception of a multi-billion dollar deal. While most were aimed to gobble up budding competition and ensure patents, there are some that stand out having changed the complete landscape of Google and how we know it to be. Let's look at those.
The Sundar Pichchai led Android, the multi-platform operating system based on Linux Kernel was developed by Android Inc., a firm initially backed and later acquired by Google in 2005. In 2007, the Open Handset Alliance was founded, a consortium of software, hardware and telecommunication companies devoted to advance open standards for mobile devices. Consequent smartphone releases have been followed by recent releases of appliances like Samsung Galaxy Gear and Sony Watches, which run on Android to provide a better environment and accessibility. It remains the most powerful OS in the market with the potential for infinite growth, being Open Source, under the Apache License Agreement. As of May 2012, Android became the most popular mobile OS, having the largest installed base, and is a market leader in most countries including the United States; there it has had the highest installed base of mobile phones for years. As of now, it is estimated that over a billion android devices have been activated.
Purchased in October 2006 for $1.65B, Google decided to acquire YouTube, a start-up of three former PayPal employees, after recognizing it's potential. Uncharacteristic of major takeovers, Google let all of YouTube's employees remain at their respective offices. At the time of acquisition, YouTube recorded over 100M views per day. Now YouTube has enrolled over a million advertisers with a billion new users visiting per month, thereby creating a massive pool of income. Google does not provide detailed figures for YouTube's running costs, and YouTube's revenues in 2007 were noted as "not material" in a regulatory filing. In June 2008, a Forbes magazine article projected the 2008 revenue at $200 million, noting progress in advertising sales. In January 2012, it was estimated that visitors to YouTube spent an average of 15 minutes a day on the site, in contrast to the four or five hours a day spent by a typical U.S. citizen watching television.
DoubleClick is a Google-subsidiary firm that develops and provides Internet ad sharing services, like customized and personalized suggestions for advertisements. Its clients include major corporations like Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Apple Inc., Nike among others. DoubleClick's headquarters is inNew York City, USA. Founded as 'DCLCK' in 1995 by Kevin O'Connor and Dwight Merriman it was acquired in March 2008 by Google for $3.1 billion.Today, it focuses on uploading ads and reporting their performance.
Applied Semantics was a content-targeted advertising company. It used the name AdSense for it's functions. Started in 1998 by Gilad Elbaz and Adam Weissman, Applied Semantics was acquired by Google in April 2003. More about AdSense can be read here.
- ANDROID :
The Sundar Pichchai led Android, the multi-platform operating system based on Linux Kernel was developed by Android Inc., a firm initially backed and later acquired by Google in 2005. In 2007, the Open Handset Alliance was founded, a consortium of software, hardware and telecommunication companies devoted to advance open standards for mobile devices. Consequent smartphone releases have been followed by recent releases of appliances like Samsung Galaxy Gear and Sony Watches, which run on Android to provide a better environment and accessibility. It remains the most powerful OS in the market with the potential for infinite growth, being Open Source, under the Apache License Agreement. As of May 2012, Android became the most popular mobile OS, having the largest installed base, and is a market leader in most countries including the United States; there it has had the highest installed base of mobile phones for years. As of now, it is estimated that over a billion android devices have been activated.
- YOUTUBE :
Purchased in October 2006 for $1.65B, Google decided to acquire YouTube, a start-up of three former PayPal employees, after recognizing it's potential. Uncharacteristic of major takeovers, Google let all of YouTube's employees remain at their respective offices. At the time of acquisition, YouTube recorded over 100M views per day. Now YouTube has enrolled over a million advertisers with a billion new users visiting per month, thereby creating a massive pool of income. Google does not provide detailed figures for YouTube's running costs, and YouTube's revenues in 2007 were noted as "not material" in a regulatory filing. In June 2008, a Forbes magazine article projected the 2008 revenue at $200 million, noting progress in advertising sales. In January 2012, it was estimated that visitors to YouTube spent an average of 15 minutes a day on the site, in contrast to the four or five hours a day spent by a typical U.S. citizen watching television.
- DOUBLECLICK :
DoubleClick is a Google-subsidiary firm that develops and provides Internet ad sharing services, like customized and personalized suggestions for advertisements. Its clients include major corporations like Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Apple Inc., Nike among others. DoubleClick's headquarters is inNew York City, USA. Founded as 'DCLCK' in 1995 by Kevin O'Connor and Dwight Merriman it was acquired in March 2008 by Google for $3.1 billion.Today, it focuses on uploading ads and reporting their performance.
- APPLIED SEMANTICS :
Applied Semantics was a content-targeted advertising company. It used the name AdSense for it's functions. Started in 1998 by Gilad Elbaz and Adam Weissman, Applied Semantics was acquired by Google in April 2003. More about AdSense can be read here.
- DEEPMIND TECHNOLOGIES :
DeepMind Technologies (DeepMind Technologies Ltd.) is a British artificial intelligence company founded in 2011 by Demis Hassabis, Mustafa Suleyman and Shane Legg.Though no official confirmation has come Google regarding DeepMind Technologies, on 26 January 2014, multiple news outlets stated that Google had purchased DeepMind Technologies for an undisclosed amount. Analysts later announced that the company was purchased for £400 Million, although later reports estimated the acquisition was valued at over £500 Million. The acquisition reportedly took place after Facebook ended negotiations with DeepMind Technologies in 2013, which resulted in no agreement or purchase of the company.
- NEST LABS :
Nest Labs is a home automation company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, that designs and manufactures sensor-driven, Wi-Fi-enabled, self-learning, programmable thermostats and smoke detectors. Co-founded by former Apple engineers Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers in 2010, the start-up company quickly grew to have more than 130 employees by the end of 2012. The company introduced their first product, the Nest Learning Thermostat, in 2011. In October 2013, Nest Labs announced the Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide detector. On January 13, 2014, Google announced plans to acquire Nest Labs for $3.2 billion.
- BOSTON DYNAMICS :
Recently acquired by Google for an undisclosed amount, Boston Dynamics is an engineering and robotics design company that is best known for the development of BigDog, a quadruped robot designed for the U.S. military with funding from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and DI-Guy, COTS software for realistic human simulation. Early in the company's history, it worked with the American Systems Corporation under a contract from the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) to replace naval training videos for aircraft launch operations with interactive 3D computer simulations.
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