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Google buys the future

Nicola Mawson
By Nicola Mawson, Contributor.
Johannesburg, 03 Jul 2014
Google increases its push towards the cloud and devices that will plug into a connected world.
Google increases its push towards the cloud and devices that will plug into a connected world.

Google is getting its tentacles into everything, as it buys up seemingly unrelated companies at an ever-increasing rate to own the future, and the customer of the future.

This week, it added Songza - its bid to play a bigger role in the fast-growing online music business - to its long list of acquisitions. Songza joins the likes of a mobile alarm clock developer, a company that makes robots, a group that turns out smoke alarms, and Internet and cloud computing companies on its list of 160 takeovers in the past 13 years.

Its spending spree, which it can well afford, is accelerating as it deepens its ability into tools that will enable a connected world, and applications that will plug into that future. In total, since 2001, Google has bought 160 companies, with 57 of these buys coming in the last three-and-a-half years, at a rate of one purchase a week, according to Wikipedia.

This year alone, the company has bought 20 entities, more than double what it acquired during the first half of the past two years.

Total control

Liron Segev, CEO of Swift Consulting, says Google is "buying the future", noting it has enough cash ($14.5 billion on hand) to purchase anything it wants at a fraction of what those companies will be worth in years to come.

Google senior VP Sundar Pichai has already said the group will expand its focus beyond its traditional Internet business, and its latest purchases show it is trending towards a connected world, and everything that plugs into that, says Segev.

Segev says Google is hedging its bets and "getting into absolutely everything" .He notes the best way to predict the future is to invent it, and if Google buys the future now, it will control it. "Google has got the money; it can afford to pull ahead in the race. Any small player that comes in as a threat can be bought off."

Revenue streams

World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck notes its bids are also an effort to boost traffic to bolster revenue growth, which is where music streaming fits in. He adds its moves towards buying tools that will be needed in a totally connected, Internet of things world will also generate much more traffic.

However, says Goldstuck, the challenge for Google will be monetising its purchases. "But you can't play the game if you're not in the game."

Vestact analyst Sasha Naryshkine notes 90% of Google's revenue comes from just one business: advertising, which is still profitable and growing. He adds the "visionary" company is diversifying, and shareholders are paying somewhat for this vision as the share is trading on a multiple of 30, which makes it rather costly.

Shooting ahead

Competitors like Apple and Facebook have also been acquiring companies that fall outside their normal ambit, but not at the same rate as Google, says Segev. Facebook is buying LiveRail to make video ads a bigger part of its business, while Apple recently spent $3 billion to catch up in fast-growing music streaming, Reuters reported.

However, Google's spending spree surpasses its rivals, as it has bought more - in less time - than the likes of Microsoft, which has acquired 163 companies since 1987, or Apple, with 59 buys in the past 26 years, or Facebook's 48 purchases since 2005.

Segev says Google wants to "own the customer" so that people will use it for any and all services. He adds there is no question it will branch into other areas such as banking, transactions, and hardware. "It's a Google planet."

Google's purchases this year

Date

Company

Sector

Cost

4 January

Bitspin

Timely alarm clock

Not disclosed

13 January

Nest Labs

Home automation company

$3.4bn

15 January

Imperium

Internet security

Not disclosed

26 January

Deepmind

Artificial intelligence

$650m

16 February

Slicklogin

Internet security

Not disclosed

21 February

spider.io

Anti-ad fraud

Not disclosed

12 March

Green Throttle

Gadgets

Not disclosed

14 April

Titan Areospace

Drones

Not disclosed

02 May

Ragenspan

E-commerce

Not disclosed

06 May

Adometry

Online advertising

Not disclosed

07 May

Appetas

Web site creator

Not disclosed

07 May

Stackdriver

Cloud computing

Not disclosed

07 May

MyEnergy

Online utility use monitor

Not disclosed

16 May

Quest Visual

Augmented reality

Not disclosed

19 May

Divide

Device manager

Not disclosed

10 June

Skybox Imaging

Satellite

$500m

19 June

mDialog

Online advertising

Not disclosed

19 June

Alpental Technologies

Wireless technology

Not disclosed

20 June

Dropcam

Home monitoring

$555m

25 June

Appurify

Mobile device cloud testing

Not disclosed

1 July

Songza

Music streaming

Not disclosed

Main source: Wikipedia

(Additional reporting by Lwavela Jongilanga.)

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