Google Spent Nearly $2 Billion On 79 Acquisitions In 2011

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.
Source:http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/27/google-spent-nearly-2-billion-on-79-acquisitions-in-2011/