Technology Acquisition List

The PartnerUp has compiled a long list of technology and web acquisitions in 2007. It is not a complete list and does omit many acquisitions but it is an interesting list that shows a clear trend that the smaller acquisitions have been more frequent. I welcome this change since it allows the acquiring companies to try out the innovation at the prototype level, explore synergies, and add value to it, or toss it out. They can refine and iterate on alternatives without worrying upfront about return on the investment. I see a lot of value in big companies using their cash to try out the outside-in-perspectives and not just rely on their internal innovation engine early on.

This is certainly better than buying the "startups" at the later stage and pay through the noses due to the ridiculous artificial valuation that these "startups" get and after the acquisition not being able to figure out what to do. Skype's acquisition by eBay is an example of one of these scenarios where eBay still cannot find the synergies and monetize the acquisition.