Google Is Chasing Its Largest-Ever Acquisition. Here's How It Compares to the Search Giant's Other Multibillion-Dollar Deals

Alphabet's planned purchase of Wiz follows in the footsteps of Motorola, Fitbit and more.

Posted  280 Views updated 6 months ago

Alphabet, the large company that owns Google and other tech businesses, is reportedly looking to acquire Wiz, a cybersecurity firm, for around $23 billion.

Google headquarters is seen in Mountain View, California. Photo: Getty Images

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One of the reasons behind the Wiz purchase (not to be confused with the Waze purchase in 2013) and other similar deals is that Google is trying to make itself stand out in the highly competitive cloud computing market by adding new features and benefits. According to Shuman Ghosemajumder, who used to lead product for trust and safety at Google and now runs an AI startup, "Security is one of those key differentiators; everyone understands how big a deal cloud security is,"

If the deal goes through and gets approval from regulators, it would be Alphabet's largest acquisition ever. But this wouldn't be the first time the Google company has bought a smaller business to expand its reach. Here are some of Google's biggest deals so far, from the most expensive to the least.

Motorola

In 2011, Google bought Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, as it wanted to grow its range of consumer products, especially around Android, and get access to Motorola's collection of patents. At the time, this was Google's largest-ever purchase. However, things didn't end well - within a few years, Google sold Motorola to Lenovo, losing around $10 billion. But Google said the patents it got were still worth the cost.

Mandiant

Similar to the Wiz deal, Google bought another cybersecurity firm, Mandiant, for $5.4 billion less than two years ago. Mandiant was well-known for uncovering the big SolarWinds hack that affected several major government agencies. Google said Mandiant would be integrated into Google Cloud. The deal also allowed Google to get "hundreds more expert threat analysts," suggesting it was partly to hire talented people.

Nest Labs

In 2014, the big tech company Google bought a smart home device company called Nest Labs for $3.2 billion. This showed that Google wanted to improve its hardware products. At the time, Nest made smart thermostats, smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. Google's CEO said that under Google, Nest would  "bring great experiences to more homes in more countries." Now, Google sells Nest-branded doorbells, locks, speakers, and WiFi routers too. But one problem is that the Nest Protect smoke and CO alarm still can't be added to the Google Home app.

DoubleClick

Advertising is very important for Google's business. In 2008, Google bought a company called DoubleClick for $3.1 billion. DoubleClick runs an online advertising marketplace. A former Google executive said that buying DoubleClick was "a total game changer" for Google's advertising business.

Looker

In 2020, Google bought a data analytics company called Looker for $2.6 billion. Google wanted to use Looker to improve its cloud computing services, to compete with other big tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft.

Fitbit

In another hardware move, in 2021 Google bought the fitness tech company Fitbit for $2.1 billion. Google wanted to get into the smartwatch and wearables market, which is dominated by Apple. One analyst said : "Buying Fitbit makes more sense than trying to build yet another competitor to Fitbit." Now, Google is adding personalized AI feedback to the Fitbit app.

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  • Google Is Chasing Its Largest-Ever Acquisition. Here's How It Compares to the Search Giant's Other Multibillion-Dollar Deals
  • Olivia Rodrigo