Acquisitions and sale of Google assets

2024

Google strikes $2.7 billion deal with Character AI to bring back important AI developer

At the end of September 2024, it became known that Google paid $2.7 billion for licensing the technologies of the startup Character. AI in the field of artificial intelligence. This firm was founded in 2021 by former Google specialist Noam Shazeer. Read more here

Israeli information security company Wiz refused to sell to Google for $23 billion and will now hold an IPO

On July 22, 2024, it became known that the Israeli company Wiz, specializing in information security solutions, refused to be sold to Google in a deal worth $23 billion. Instead, Wiz intends to implement an initial public offering (IPO) procedure. Read more here

2023: Google invests $2 billion in rival OpenAI

At the end of October 2023, information appeared that Google will invest $2 billion in the startup Anthropic in the field of artificial intelligence. This young firm specializes in developing large language models (LLMs), making it a competitor to OpenAI. Read more here.

2022

Purchase of augmented reality device developer Raxium

In mid-March 2022, Google struck a deal to buy Raxium at a price the companies would not disclose. The startup is developing small LEDs for displays used in augmented and mixed reality devices. Read more here.

Acquisition of information security developer Mandiant for $5.4 billion

On March 8, 2022, it became known that Google announced the acquisition of Mandiant, a company specializing in information security, in particular, digital forensics and incident response. The deal amounted to $5.4 billion. Read more here.

Purchase of Central Saint Giles office space for $1 billion

In mid-January 2022, Google acquired the Central Saint Giles office building in central London. The purchase cost the company $1 billion. Read more here.

Purchase of information security company Siemplify

In early January 2022, Google announced the acquisition of information security company Siemplify. The value of the deal has not been officially announced, but the Israeli media are aware of it - it is reported that the American company paid about $500 million. Read more here.

2021

Investing $1 billion in CME Group

In early November 2021, it was announced that Google had invested $1 billion in the largest futures exchange corporation CME Group, and agreed to transfer the company's main trading systems to Google Cloud cloud storage. Read more here.

New York Office Building Purchase for $2.1 Billion

On September 21, 2021, Google announced the purchase of an office building in New York for $2.1 billion to make it the anchor center of its Hudson Square campus. The announcement came as the city was gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic and most offices are still unpopulated.

Google has been operating in New York for more than two decades, and it is the company's largest office outside California. The 160,000 sq m Hudson Square campus is located on the Hudson River, south of the NYU campus and Greenwich Village. Although in late August 2021, CEO Sundar Pichai revealed in a blog post that Google was delaying its global return to offices until January 10, 2022.

Google is playing a leading role in our economic revival and also validating what we know more and more: New York City is now one of the world's great tech capitals, New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio said at a virtual news conference.

On September 22, 2021, Google leases the St. John's Terminal building and expects to open its new premises there by mid-2023. Google expects its investment to add another 14,000 employees in New York.

As Google moves towards a more flexible hybrid approach to work, face-to-face meetings to collaborate and build community will remain an important part of our future. That is why we continue to invest in our offices around the world. Our decision to exercise the St. John's terminal option complements our plans to invest more than $250 million in 2021 on our New York campus, "said Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai.

According to Real Capital Analytics, this transaction is the largest in this segment since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic and one of the most expensive in US history. The sellers were two Canadian firms Oxford Properties and CPP Investments.^[1]

Purchase of fintech company Pring

In mid-July 2021, it became known about the sale of the Tokyo payment application provider Pring to Google Corporation. The exact value of the transaction is not announced, Nikkei reported an amount of $180-270 million. Read more here.

Purchase of surround sound technology developer Dysonics

In early April 2021, it became known that Google bought the developer of surround sound technologies Dysonics. Under the terms of the deal, concluded in December 2020, Google will receive intellectual property rights and patents of the startup. Financial details were not disclosed. Read more here.

Investing in Data Analytics Software Developer Databricks

In early February 2021 Databricks , it raised $1 billion from Amazon Web Services CapitalG (a private company under management), Alphabet and, Salesforce Ventures Google Microsoft which had previously invested in Databricks. The developer's estimate rose ON to $28 billion. More. here

2020

Buying Neverware, an OS developer that turns old computers into Chromebooks

In mid-December 2020, it became known that Google bought Neverware, which is behind the development of the CloudReady operating system. This solution is based on the open operating system Google Chromium, it allows you to reanimate outdated Windows and Mac computers. Read more here.

Buying an Operating System Developer for Dataform Datastores

In mid-December 2020, it became known that Google he bought, Britishstartup Dataform which is known for the development operating system for data storage. More. here

$100 million investment in telemedicine provider Amwell

On August 24, 2020, it became known that it would Google invest $100 million in Amwell. The agreement was struck between Amwell and - Google Cloud the cloud division of the search giant - and provides for cooperation over a long period. More. here

Buying Smart Eyewear Developer North

At the end of June 2020, it became known about the sale of the developer of smart glasses North to the company. Google Thanks to this deal American , the technology giant will be able to improve its developments in the field of computerized glasses and master the consumer segment. More. here

Buying a company to move customers from mainframe to the Cornerstone Technology cloud

February 19, 2020 Google announced the acquisition, Cornerstone Technology but did not name the value of the transaction. The buyer intends to use startup tools to help customers move their applications from mainframes to the cloud infrastructure. Google Cloud More. here

Buying the creator of the software development platform without writing AppSheet code

On January 14, 2020, Google announced the purchase of the creator of the software development platform without writing AppSheet code. Read more here.

2019

Fitbit purchase for $2.1 billion

On November 1, 2019, Google announced the acquisition of Fitbit for $2.1 billion. Thanks to this purchase, the American internet giant will enter the fast-growing market for fitness trackers and smartwatches. Read more here.

Buying school homework service developer Socratic

In August 2019 Google , she announced the purchase, Socratic but did not name the value of the transaction. More. here

Buying Elastifile Cloud Developer

July 9, 2019 Google announced the acquisition of a cloud developer for. data storage Elastifile More. here

Buying business intelligence platform developer Looker

June 6, 2019 Google announced the acquisition of the developer of the business intelligence platform Looker for $2.6 billion to expand its cloud business. For the internet giant, this is the largest purchase in 5 years and the largest takeover in the segment of public cloud services. More. here

Alooma Cloud Migration Software Developer Purchase

On February 19, 2019, Google announced the acquisition of Alooma, a software developer for migrating data to the cloud. Read more here.

2018

Purchase of Superpod Q&A service

In early 2019, it became known about the sale of the Superpod Q&A service to Google. First, the transaction was reported by Axios, citing an informed source, and Google confirmed the information. According to Axios, the Internet giant paid "less than $60 million" for the purchase of Superpod. Read more here.

Purchase of DevOps specialist DORA

In December 2018, Google announced the purchase of DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA), with which it had previously collaborated. As reported in the DORA blog, this deal will give developers access to the results of analytical data processing using the practice of DevOps in the cloud space. The financial component of the agreement has not been disclosed. Read more here.

Google bought for $1 billion real estate near its headquarters in Silicon Valley

At the end of November 2018, it became known about the company's purchase Google of a complex of office buildings near its headquarters in Mountain View (California,). USA The transaction value was about $1 billion. The complex previously belonged to the social network that LinkedIn is part of. Microsoft

The property acquired by Google includes 12 buildings with an area of ​ ​ 74 thousand square meters located on the territory of the Shoreline Technology Park technopark, the total area of ​ ​ which is almost 210 thousand square meters. Previously, the corporation leased part of these buildings.

The San Francisco Chronicle calls the deal the largest property purchase in 2018 in San Francisco and surrounding cities. Google confirmed to the publication the acquisition of offices in which it is planned to accommodate about 5 thousand employees, but refrained from detailed comments.

It is noted that from 2016 to 2018, Google bought at least $2.83 billion worth of real estate in Silicon Valley.

In addition, Google plans to expand beyond California. Earlier in 2018, the company's management announced its intentions to create comfortable conditions for the work of 12 thousand employees in New York. This will almost double the number of employees of the company working in the metropolis by the end of November 2018.

According to Google CFO Ruth Porat, the company is more profitable to buy property instead of renting it. These words confirm numerous deals. So, in November 2018, Google paid $110 million for a plot of land for its new campus in the business part of San Jose and agreed on the possibility of purchasing another 44.5 thousand square meters of land. Earlier in 2018, Google bought the Chelsea Market building complex in New York for $2.4 billion.^[2]

Joining DeepMind Health to create AI assistant for carers and doctors

On November 13, 2018, as part of an ongoing reorganization of efforts in the field health care Google , it announced the joining of a medical project, Google DeepMind Health which was previously part of the research center of a London-based AI company, DeepMind which is on a par with Google in the holding. Alphabet More. here

Purchase of Onward chatbot service

In early October 2018 Google , she announced the acquisition, Onward but did not name the amount and other terms of the transaction. It is known that the co-founders of the sold startup Rémi Cossart and Pramod Thammaiah will move to Google with their team. By early October, Onward employs fewer than 10 people. More. here

Google invested $375 million in Oscar Health

In mid-August 2018, Google announced a $375 million investment in Oscar Health to help the startup expand its geography and presence markets. The deal is supposed to allow Oscar Health to enter an extended coverage (Medicare Advantage) health insurance program in 2020. Read more here.

Tenor Purchase for Image Search Development

At the end of March 2018, the American company Google announced the purchase of Tenor, but did not name the value of the transaction, as well as other terms of the agreement. It is only known that Google will retain the Tenor brand and use the company's technologies in its image search service Google Images. Read more here.

2017: Buying Pixel smartphone business from HTC

On September 21, 2017, it became known that Google acquired part of HTC's mobile division responsible for the production of Pixel smartphones. Under the terms of the deal, which will amount to $1.1 billion, Google also received non-exclusive intellectual property rights to HTC. The company expects to complete the acquisition by the end of 2017.^[3]

According to HTC CFO Peter Shen, upon completion of the transaction, the company's research and development staff will decrease from 4 thousand to 2 thousand people. At the same time, HTC does not intend to curtail the development of mobile devices and will continue to release its own smartphones and virtual reality devices Vive. In particular, the company is preparing to release the next flagship model.

It is noteworthy that for Google this is the second major deal to acquire a smartphone manufacturer after buying Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion 6 years ago. Under the leadership of Google, Motorola opened production in the United States, but in January 2014 it was sold to the Chinese Lenovo at a price lower than the acquisition cost.

However, Google continued to create Nexus smartphones that were released by third-party manufacturers, including HTC. Google started developing smartphones more closely in 2016, introducing the Pixel and Pixel XL models, along with the Google Chrome and Google Wifi devices. Both Pixel models have been released by HTC.

With the acquisition of the portion of HTC's business responsible for the Pixel release, Google is becoming a direct competitor to Android smartphone manufacturers.

2011: $12.5 billion Motorola Mobility acquisition

On August 15, 2011, Google announced the acquisition of mobile device maker Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in cash. This transaction has already received the approval of the boards of directors of both companies. For each Motorola Mobility share, the Internet giant paid $40, which is 63% higher than the market value of the company's shares at the end of trading on the stock exchange on Friday, August 12.

Letter from the head of Google on the acquisition of Motorola Mobility

Since the launch of the Android platform in November 2007, it has not only significantly expanded the choice of mobile devices for consumers, but also changed the very approach to using mobile phones. Today, more than 150 million Android devices operate in the world - more than 550,000 phones are added to this figure every day thanks to a network of 39 manufacturers and 231 operators in 123 countries. Given this phenomenal success, we do not stop looking for new ways to accelerate the development of the Android ecosystem. That is why I am so happy today to announce our decision to acquire Motorola Mobility.

Motorola has been more than 80 years of innovation in communications technology and communications products. She made a huge contribution to the development of intellectual property, thanks to her developments, mobile computing has reached the high level that we are seeing today.

Among Motorola's achievements is the development of the first mobile phone 30 years ago and the smallest and lightest phone on Earth - StarTAC.

In 2007, Motorola was one of the founders of the Open Handset Alliance, which aimed to work on the Android platform - the first fully open operating system for mobile devices.

In 2008, Motorala relied on Android and chose this particular operating system for the entire line of its smartphones. It was a smart decision, and today we are very impressed with the success the company has achieved. Motorola's mobile business is going uphill, and we are confident that it will grow even more rapidly in the future.

Motorola is also the market leader in home electronics and video solutions. As the number of devices connected to the network is constantly growing, we are happy to work together with Motorola and the entire industry, support our partners and work with them to continue to develop innovations in this area.

Motorola only uses Android when developing mobile phones. And this is just one of the reasons why companies can effectively collaborate on the development of the Android ecosystem and for the benefit of users, partners and developers around the world.

This acquisition will not change our decision to grow Android as an open platform.

Motorola will remain a licensee and Android codes will remain publicly available. We will grow Motorola Mobility's business independently. Many of our partners - hardware manufacturers - play an important role in the development of Android, and we hope to continue to work effectively with them so that users can get the best solutions.

We recently talked about how various companies, including Microsoft and Apple, are teaming up for anti-competitive patent attacks on Android. The US Department of Justice had to intervene in the results of one of the recent patent auctions to "maintain competitiveness and innovation in the open source community." The ministry is currently examining the results of Nortel's auction. Our acquisition of Motorola Mobility will increase competition by strengthening Google's patent portfolio. This will better protect Android from anti-competitive actions from Microsoft, Apple and other companies.

The merger of Google and Motorola Mobility will not only accelerate the development of Android, but also increase competition in the market, while providing consumers with a large number of innovative solutions, a wide range of devices and even more convenient ways to work with the phone. I am confident that these changes will greatly benefit all market participants.

I look forward to Motorola Mobility employees joining the Google family!

Larry Page, Chief Executive of Google Inc

2010

Acquisition of social media game development startup Slide for $182 million

In August 2010, it became known that Google acquired the startup Slide - a developer of games and applications for social networks - for $182 million. Slide is the developer of a range of popular social media apps such as SuperPoke Pets, Top Fish, SPP Range and SuperPocus Academy of Magic. The company was founded by Max Levchin, one of the founders of the PayPal payment system.

Multiple company takeovers

2009: AOL stake sold to Time Warner for 70% loss

As of the beginning of 2009, Google's share in AOL fell by more than 70% to $274 million. Time Warner bought a 5% stake in AOL from Google for $283 million. The transaction was completed in early July 2009. According to its terms, the total value of AOL was estimated at $5.66 billion.

2006: $1.65 billion purchase of YouTube and $1 billion stake in AOL

A record acquisition for that time Google was a company YouTube bought for $1.65 billion in November 2006.

In 2006, Google also acquired a stake in AOL for $1 billion.

Notes