Dive Brief:
- The majority of the largest tech companies conducted fewer mergers and acquisitions in 2015, according to new data from CB Insights.
- Five of the eight "tech giants" decreased their M&A activity in 2015, compared to the year before. Collectively, the companies made 71 acquisitions in 2015, down from a total of 101 in 2014.
- One notable exception was Microsoft, which purchased 18 companies in 2015, a 180% increase from 2014.
Dive Insight:
CB Insights included Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Salesforece.com, Twitter and Yahoo as the "tech giants." In the past five years, those companies together are responsible for acquiring 23 companies worth more than $1 billion.
The most dramatic decreases in acquisitions were from Yahoo and Google. Yahoo’s M&A activity was down 94% from 2014, which may be understandable given the company’s recent struggles.
Google made fewer than half the acquisitions it made the year before (16 acquisitions in 2015, compared to 35 in 2014). But over the past five years, Google has made the most acquisitions of all the tech giants. Facebook holds the record for the largest dollar amount acquisition of the entire group to date. That company purchased WhatsApp in 2014 for $22 billion.
Amazon and Salesforce both slightly increased their number of acquisitions in 2015.
