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In light of the raft of acquisitions lately, it seems that the dealmakers at Google (GOOG) haven't had much sleep lately. Of course, the targets have been mostly social type companies. For the most part, Google needs to protect its advertising franchise -- especially from Facebook.
The latest deal for Google is SocialDeck -- the price tag was not disclosed. Based in Canada, the startup has been successful with a variety of Facebook, BlackBerry and iPhone games. Of course, these games involve multi-layer environments, and can even span devices. Titles include "Color Connect" and "Pet Hero MD."
Social gaming is a red hot sector. Companies like EA (ERTS) and Disney (DIS) have plunked down hundreds of millions to get into the space.
Google has struck a variety of deals for social gaming companies already. These include Slide, which is a game developer, as well as Jambool, which provides virtual currencies. And it seems that the dealmaking will continue. However, the big challenge will be integrating these disparate companies. Unfortunately, Google's history of acquisitions has been uneven over the years.
Tom Taulli is also the author of several books, including the Complete M&A Handbook as well as the upcoming book, All About Short Selling.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-31-2010 @ 3:41PM
Ryan2 said...
What do you think of companies who take a market leader position vs. following the leader? Microsoft and Dell used to do this but will they become the followers?
http://bit.ly/b3vxSA
9-01-2010 @ 5:40AM
peter sity said...
I'd really like the ability to create my own "CARD" with my own content sources, perhaps via an uploadable OPML file. If Buzz Deck can do that, and fix the 10 card limitation, this would truly be a five star product.