Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google use mergers and acquisitions to gain market power, acquire data, and snuff out any threats from would-be competitors. The list of their publicly-disclosed acquisitions is below.
Amazon:
115 acquisitions over 23 years or ~5 deals per year
- 1998: PlanetAll.com, Junglee, Bookpages, Telebook, and IMDb
- January 1999: MindCorps
- April 1999: e-Niche Inc.
- May 1999: LiveBid and Exchange.com
- June 1999: Accept.com and Alexa
- October 1999: Tool Crib and Convergence Corp.
- November 1999: Back to Basics
- December 1999: Leep Technology
- December 2001: OurHouse
- January 2002: Egghead.com
- August 2004: Joyo.com
- April 2005: MobiPocket and BookSurge
- June 2005: Small Parts Inc
- July 2005: CustomFlix
- February 2006: EastDane and Shopbop.com
- October 2006: Text Pay Me
- May 2007: BrillianceAudio and Digital Photography Review
- January 2008: Without A Box and Audible
- April 2008: LOVEFiLM
- June 2008: Fabric.com
- July 2008: Box Office Mojo
- August 2008: Shelfari
- October 2008: Reflexive Entertainment
- December 2008: AbeBooks and bookfinder.com
- April 2009: Lexcycle
- June 2009: SnapTell
- July 2009: Zappos.com
- February 2010: Touchco
- June 2010: woot.com
- September 2010: Amie Street
- October 2010: BuyVIP
- November 2010: Toby Press, Quidsi, Soap.com, Diapers.com, BeautyBar.com and Wag.com
- July 2011: Pushbutton and bookdepository.com
- September 2011: Yap
- February 2012: Teachstreet
- March 2012: Kiva Systems
- April 2012: Evi and Avalon Books
- July 2012: UpNext
- January 2013: INOVA Software
- March 2013: Goodreads
- May 2013: Liquavista
- October 2013: TenMarks Education
- February 2014: Double Helix Games
- April 2014: ComiXology
- August 2014: Twitch Interactive
- October 2014: Rooftop Media
- December 2014: GoodGame
- January 2015: Annapurna Labs
- March 2015: 2lementry
- April 2015: Shoefitr, ClusterK and Amiato
- July 2015: AppThwack
- September 2015: Elemental Technologies and Safaba Translation Systems
- February 2016: NICE and Emvantage Payments
- April 2016: Orbeus
- July 2016: Cloud9 IDE
- August 2016: Curse Inc.
- October 2016: Westland
- November 2016: Biba Systems and Partpic
- January 2017: harvest.ai
- February 2017: Colis Privé
- March 2017: Do.com and Thinkbox Systems
- June 2017: Whole Foods
- July 2017: Graphiq, GameSparks and Souq.com
- September 2017: Wing
- October 2017: Body Labs
- November 2017: Goo Technologies
- December 2017: Blink
- January 2018: Sqrrl
- February 2018: Immedia
- April 2018: Ring
- June 2018: PillPack
- August 2018: Tapzo
- January 2019: CloudEndure and TSO Logic
- February 2019: Eero and Dispatch AI
- April 2019: CANVAS Technology
- May 2019: Sizmek Ad Server
- June 2019: Bebo
- July 2019: E8 Storage
- September 2019: IGDB and INLT
- October 2019: Health Navigator
- June 2020: Zoox
- January 2021: Umbra 3D
- February 2021: Selz
- June 2021: Art19 and Wickr
Apple
125 acquisitions over 33 years or ~4 deals per year
- 1988: Network Innovations, Orion Network Systems, Styleware, and Nashoba Systems
- 1989: Coral Software
- 1997: Next and Power Computing Corp
- 1999: Xemplar Education and Raycer Graphics
- 2000: NetSelector, Astarte-DVD Authoring Software, and SoundJam MP
- 2001: Bluefish Labs, bluebuzz, Spruce Technologies and PowerSchool
- 2002: Nothing Real, Zayante, Silicon Grail Corp-Chalice, Propel Software, Prismo Graphics and Emagic
- 2005: SchemaSoft and FingerWorks
- 2006: Silicon Color and Proximity
- 2008: P.A. Semi
- 2009: Placebase and Lala
- 2010: Quattro Wireless, Intrinsity, Siri, Gipsy Moth Studios, Poly9, Polar Rose and IMSense
- 2011: C3 Technologies
- 2012: Anobit, Chomp, AuthenTec, Particle and Redmatica
- January 2013: Novauris Technologies
- March 2013: WiFiSlam
- June 2013: Ottocat
- July 2013: Catch.com, Locationary and HopStop.com
- August 2013: Passif Semiconductor, Matcha, Embark and AlgoTrim
- October 2013: Cue
- November 2013: PrimeSense
- December 2013: Acunu, Topsy and BroadMap
- January 2014: SnappyLabs
- February 2014: Burstly and TestFlight App
- May 2014: LuxVue Technologies
- June 2014: Spotsetter and Swell
- July 2014: BookLamp
- August 2014: Beats Electronics
- September 2014: Prss
- January 2015: Musicmetric and Semetric
- February 2015: Camel Audio
- March 2015: FoundationDB
- April 2015: LinX and Dryft
- May 2015: Coherent Navigation and Metaio
- September 2015: Mapsense
- October 2015: Vocal IQ and Perceptio
- November 2015: Faceshift and LegbaCore
- January 2016: Emotient, LearnSprout and Flyby Media
- August 2016: Turi and Gliimpse
- September 2016: tuplejump
- December 2016: Indoor.io
- February 2017: RealFace
- March 2017: Workflow
- May 2017: Beddit and Lattice Data
- June 2017: SensoMotoric Instruments
- September 2017: Regaind
- October 2017: init.ai and PowerbyProxi
- November 2017: InVisage Technologies and Vrvana
- December 2017: Pop Up Archive and Spektral
- January 2018: Silicon Valley Data Science and Buddybuild
- March 2018: Texture
- August 2018: Akonia Holographics
- September 2018: Shazam
- October 2018: Dialog
- November 2018: Silk Labs
- December 2018: Platoon
- February 2019: DataTiger and PullString
- March 2019: Laserlike and Stamplay
- May 2019: Tueo Health
- June 2019: Drive.ai
- July 2019: Intel’s smartphone modem business
- October 2019: Ikinema
- December 2019: Spectral Edge
- January 2020: Xnor.ai
- March 2020: DarkSky
- April 2020: Voysis
- May 2020: NextVR and Inductiv
- June 2020: Fleetsmith
- July 2020: Mobeewave
- August 2020: Camerai and Spaces
- January 2021: Curious AI
90 acquisitions over 16 years or ~6 deals per year
- August 2005: aboutface
- July 2007: Parakey
- June 2008: ConnectU
- August 2009: FriendFeed
- February 2010: Octazen
- March 2010: Divvyshot
- May 2010: ShareGrove and friendster
- November 2010: Zenbe
- July 2010: nextstop
- August 2010: Hot Potato and Chai Labs
- October 2010: drop.io
- November 2010: FB.com domain name
- January 2011: Rel8tion
- March 2011: RecRec, Beluga, and Snaptu
- April 2011: DayTum
- June 2011: MailRank and Sofa
- August 2011: Push Pop Press
- October 2011: friend.ly
- November 2011: Strobe
- December 2011: Gowalla
- April 2012: TagTile and Instagram
- May 2012: Karma, Gancee and Lightbox.com
- June 2012: face.com
- July 2012: Spool and Acrylic Software
- February 2013: threadsy
- March 2013: Atlas Solutions, Osmeta, and Storylane
- April 2013: Hot Studio and Spaceport
- July 2013: Parse
- August 2013: Monoidics
- October 2013: Jibbigo
- December 2013: Onavo
- January 2014: SportStream and Little Eye Labs
- February 2014: Branch
- March 2014: WhatsApp and Oculus VR
- April 2014: Ascenta
- June 2014: ProtoGeo Oy
- August 2014: PRYTE, privatecore, and LiveRail
- January 2015: Wave Group Sound and wit.ai
- March 2015: QuickFire
- May 2015: TheFind
- July 2015: Surreal Vision
- October 2015: Pebbles Interfaces
- March 2016: Endaga
- May 2016: Masquerade
- September 2016: Two Big Ears
- October 2016: Nascent Objects
- November 2016: InfiniLED, CrowdTangle, and FacioMetrics
- July 2017: Zurich Eye and Ozlo
- August 2017: Source3
- October 2017: Fayteq
- January 2018: tbh
- July 2018: confirm.io and Bloomsbury AI
- August 2018: Redkix
- February 2019: Vidpresso and Chainspace
- September 2019: GrokStyle, Servicefriend, and CTRL-labs
- November 2019: Packagd
- December 2019: Beat Games
- February 2020: PlayGiga and Sanzaru Games
- June 2020: Mapillary and Ready at Dawn
- November 2020: Kustomer
- April 2021: Downpour Interactive
- June 2021: Unit 2 Games and BigBox VR
258 acquisitions over 20 years or ~13 deals per year
- February 2001: Deja
- September 2001: Outride
- February 2003: Pyra Labs
- April 2003: Neotonic Software, Applied Semantics and Kaltix
- October 2003: Sprinks and Genius Labs
- May 2004: Ignite Logic
- July 2004: Picasa
- September 2004: ZipDash
- October 2004: Where 2 Technologies and Keyhole
- March 2005: Urchin Software Corp
- May 2005: Dodgeball
- July 2005: Reqwireless
- August 2005: Android
- November 2005: Skia and Akwan Information Technologies
- December 2005: Phatbits, allPAY GmbH and bruNET GmbH
- January 2006: dMarc Broadcasting
- February 2006: Measure Map
- March 2006: Upstartle and “@” Last Software
- April 2006: Orion
- June 2006: 2Web Technologies
- August 2006: Neven Vision
- October 2006: JotSpot and Youtube
- December 2006: Endoxon
- February 2007: AdScape
- March 2007: Trendalyzer
- April 2007: DoubleClick, Tonic Systems and Marratech video conference software
- May 2007: GreenBorder and Panoramio
- June 2007: FeedBurner, PeaksStream, Zenter and GrandCentral
- July 2007: Postini and ImageAmerica
- September 2007: Zingku
- October 2007: Jaiku
- July 2008: Begun and Omnisio
- September 2008: TNC
- April 2009: Eluceon Research
- August 2009: On2
- September 2009: reCAPTCHA
- November 2009: AdMob, Gizmo5, Teracent and AppJet
- February 2010: Aardvark
- February 2010: reMail
- March 2010: Picnik, DocVerse and Episodic
- April 2010: PinkArt, Agnilux, LabPixies and BumpTop
- May 2010: Global IP Solutions, Simplify Media and Ruba.com
- June 2010: Invite Media and Instantiations
- July 2010: Metaweb
- August 2010: Slide.com, Jambool, Like.com, Angstro and SocialDeck
- September 2010: Plannr, Quiksee and MentorWave Technologies
- October 2010: BlindType
- December 2010: Phonetic Arts, Widevine Technologies and Zetawire
- January 2011: eBook Technologies and SayNow
- March 2011: BeatThatQuote.com, Next New Networks, Green Parrot Pictures and Zynamics
- April 2011: PushLife, ITA Software and TalkBin
- May 2011: Modu and Sparkbuy
- June 2011: PostRank, Admeld, and Sage TV
- July 2011: Punchd, Fridge and PittPatt
- August 2011: Dealmap and Motorola Mobility (SOLD 2013)
- September 2011: Zave Networks, Zagat and DailyDeal
- October 2011: Anthony’s Robots, SocialGrapple and 510 Systems
- November 2011: Apture and Katango
- December 2011: RightsFlow and Clever Sense
- March 2012: Milk
- April 2012: TxVia
- June 2012: Meebo and Quickoffice
- July 2012: Sparrow, Wildfire Interactive and Cuban Council
- September 2012: VirusTotal.com and Nik Software
- November 2012: Incentive Targeting and Bufferbox
- January 2013: Schaft, Industrial Preception, Redwood Robotics, Meka Robotics, Holomni, Bot & Dolly, and Autofuss
- March 2013: Channel Intelligence, DNNresearch, and Talaria Technologies
- April 2013: Behavio and Wavii
- May 2013: Makani Power and MyEnergy (SHUT DOWN)
- June 2013: Waze
- August 2013: WIMM Labs
- September 2013: Calico and Bump
- October 2013: Flutter and FlexyCore
- January 2014: Bitspin, Imprermium and DeepMind Technologies
- February 2014: Nest, SlickLogin and spider.io
- March 2014: GreenThrottle
- April 2014: Titan Aerospace
- May 2014: Rangespan, Adometry, Appetas, Stackdriver, Quest Visual, Gridcentric and Divide
- June 2014: mDialog, Aplental Technologies, Baarzo, and Appurify
- July 2014: Dropcam, Songza and drawElements
- August 2014: Skybox Imaging, Emu, Directr, Jetpac, Gecko Design, and Zync Render
- September 2014: Lift Labs, Polar and Input Factory
- October 2014: Agawi, Firebase, Dark Blue Labs, Vision Factory and Revolv
- November 2014: Lumedyne Technologies and RelativeWave
- December 2014: Vidmaker
- January 2015: Granata Decision Systems
- February 2015: Launchpad Toys, Odysee, Softcard and Red Hot Labs
- April 2015: Thrive Audio and Skillman & Hackett
- May 2015: Timeful and Pulse.io
- July 2015: Pixate
- September 2015: Oyster and Jibe Mobile
- October 2015: Digisfera
- November 2015: Fly Labs and Bebop
- February 2016: BandPage and Pie
- May 2016: Synergyse
- June 2016: Webpass
- July 2016: Moodstocks, Anvato, Kifi and LaunchKit
- August 2016: Orbitera and Apportable
- September 2016: Apigee, Urban Engines and Api.ai
- October 2016: FameBit and Eyefluence
- November 2016: LeapDroid and Qwiklabs
- December 2016: Cronologics
- January 2017: Crashlytics and Fabric
- March 2017: Kaggle and AppBridge
- May 2017: Owlchemy Labs
- July 2017: Halli Labs
- August 2017: AIMatter and Senosis
- September 2017: Bitium
- October 2017: Relay Media and 60db
- November 2017: Banter
- January 2018: Limes Audio, Redux and HTC Corporation
- February 2018: Xively
- March 2018: Lytro and Tenor
- May 2018: Velostrata and Cask
- August 2018: GraphicsFuzz
- October 2018: Onward
- November 2018: Workbench
- December 2018: Where is My Train and Sigmoid Labs
- January 2019: Superpod
- February 2019: Alooma
- March 2019: Nightcorn
- July 2019: Elastifile
- August 2019: Socratic
- November 2019: CloudSimple
- December 2019: Typhoon Studios
- January 2020: AppSheet and Pointy
- February 2020: Looker and Cornerstone Technology
- June 2020: North
- August 2020: StratoZone
- December 2020: Actifio
- January 2021: Fitbit
- February 2021: Provino
- April 2021: Dysonics