How did Google acquire over 250 startups in the past 20 years?

Tejal Wakchoure | Nov 12, 2022

It's not a great time for tech. But while most giants in the industry are facing unprecedented financial problems, Alphabet, Google's parent company, continued to acquire younger companies through the end of 2022.

Since 2001, Google has acquired 254 companies, including giants like Android and YouTube. Some of these acquisitions haven't worked out, including Slide (bought for $182 million, shut down after two years) and Motorola Mobility (bought for $12.5 billion, sold for $3 billion after two years). But due to the sheer number of fields that Google operates in, most of these businesses have been integrated into its existing products.

Nearly 10 percent of all (disclosed) companies have been integrated into the G Suite bundle

Company details by common product groups

Data: Crunchbase, CB Insights

Compared to its MAMMA peers, Google has consistently focused on acquiring startups, surpassed only by Microsoft with 265 total acquisitions. The company focused on expansion most in 2014, acquiring 34 companies that year alone.

Google outpaces most MAMMA Peers

Annual acquisitions, 2001-2022

Data: Kaggle

$12.5B

Motorola Mobility (2011)

$3.2B

Nest Labs (2014)

$2.1B

Fitbit (2021)

$1.65B

YouTube (2006)

$50M

Android (2005)

Focus on the mobile market

Over 10 percent of the companies that Google has acquired operated in the mobile domain. These mergers supplemented the growth of Android over the past two decades. Since its acquisition in 2005, Android has grown to reach 3 billion users worldwide. It now holds 71% of the global market share for operating systems.

M&A strategy broken down by market

Number of acquired companies, 2001-2022

Data: Kaggle

Young, US-based companies in the lead

Out of the 254 companies Google has acquired so far,

According to Google's public records, 157 of its 254 companies were created less than six years ago at the time of their acquisition. Only five companies were over 20 years old (Zagat, Director, Like.com, Instantiations, and Boston Dynamics).

Most startups have been acquired within 6 years of their creation

% of acquired companies with typical age on deal date

Data: Crunchbase, CB Insights

Analysis: Sorting, filtering, and pivot tables in Excel

Sources: Crunchbase (scraped data), CB Insights, Kaggle (Google M&A)