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Google snapping up one firm a week, says Schmidt
Google chairman Eric Schmidt claims that Google is buying one company a week, although the firm's acquisition rate so far indicates the figure is higher than this. Speaking at the Le Web conference in Paris, Schmidt says the search firm is "acquiring around one company per week", most recently snaring in-page search service Apture and friend manager Katango. The latter deal bought Google's acquisition total to 57 companies within 9 months, at a total cost of USD14bn.
Google has largely focused on building out its maps, social and search services through its acquisitions. The firm bought German group-buying site DailyDeal in September for an undisclosed sum as well as the Dealmap the month before. The firm subsequently revamped its own deals offering, Google Offers, in October and more recently launched location-based deals for mobile users by combining Offers with its social service, Google+. Google also bought listings service Zagat to bolster its local reviews and business relationships, helping build out both the social and listings aspects of its maps services.
Aside from bolstering services, Google's acquisitions have caused some consternation among shareholders as operating costs skyrocket. Google's most high-profile and expensive deal to date was its purchase of Motorola's handset manufacturing arm, Motorola Mobility for USD12.5bn in August. The acquisition was made in a bid to protect the firm's Android manufacturing partners from unfriendly patent suits from rival firms, illustrated by the current lawsuits embroiling Samsung and Apple around the world.
While the deals have enabled Google to launch ambitious projects such as Google+ and bolster services which have so far been experiments, they have also helped Google ditch its ballast. The firm has shut down more than 10 projects, such as failed social service Buzz, and cut back on others as it focuses on building a few key services on strong foundations. This appears to follow the strategy outlined in Google's Q2 earnings call by CEO Larry Page, who envisioned "more wood behind fewer arrows".
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