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.
In September 2021, the Federal Trade Commission released a report documenting the total number of acquisitions made by Big Tech firms between 2010 and the end of 2019, including those that have were not reported to the agency. That report is available here.
Amazon:
121 acquisitions over 25 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
- November 2021: Veeqo
- March 2022: Strio.AI
- April 2022: GlowRoad
- August 2022: iRobot
- September 2022: Cloostermans
- November 2022: Spirit AI
Apple
128 acquisitions over 34 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
- August 2021: Primephonic
- February 2022: AI Music
- March 2022: Credit Kudos
97 acquisitions over 18 years or ~5 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 and PlayGiga
- February 2020: Scape Technologies and Sanzaru Games
- June 2020: Mapillary and Ready at Dawn
- September 2020: Lemnis Technologies
- November 2020: Kustomer
- April 2021: Downpour Interactive
- June 2021: Unit 2 Games and BigBox VR
- October 2021: AI.Reverie and Within
- October 2022: Armature Studio, Camouflaj and Twisted Pixel
- December 2022: Luxexcel
270 acquisitions over 21 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
- September 2021: Playspace
- October 2021: MuJoCo
- January 2022: Siemplify
- April 2022: MobiledgeX and Vicarious
- May 2022: Raxium
- September 2022: Mandiant and Breezometer
- October 2022: Alter, Sound Life Sciences and BrightBytes
- December 2022: Open Source Robotics Corporation