The M&A Year so Far: Google Gobbled More Companies, but Microsoft Took the Biggest Bite

By James Lee Phillips

July 12, 2011 7:44 AM EDT

While the biggest names in the tech industry may have ganged up on Google to keep them from the Nortel patents, don't be too sad for them; according to a report, Google is still leading the pack by far when it comes to mergers and acquisitions so far in 2011...but Microsoft still hold the record for biggest single purchase overall.

The Berkery Noyes 2011 Half Year Trends Report lists all of the notable purchases by tech companies in the first half of the year. Google's eleven purchases (SageTV, AdMeld Inc., PostRank Inc., Sparkbuy Inc., TalkBin, PushLife Inc., BeatThatQuote.com Ltd., Next New Networks, Inc., FFlick, SayNow and eBook Technologies Inc.) puts the company in the lead not simply for this year, but also for the aggregate; over the past two and a half years, Google has purchased 39 companies, more than any of the other tech companies in the report.

Few observers of the tech market will be surprised to discover that the largest single purchase so far this year has been Microsoft's acquisition of Skype (technically, proposed acquisition -- the approval hasn't yet been given as of this writing). At nearly $9.1 Billion, this represents about one-fifth of all of the tech money that has changed hands so far this year.

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Speaking of which, compared to the second half of 2010, considerably more money (52%) has been changing hands in the past six months, and significantly more transactions are taking place (23%).

However, Berkery Noyes is careful to stress that these are all based upon disclosed transactions, whereas the firm calculates that undisclosed transactions could account for over twice as much. Whatever the case, the firm sees "30-month highs" in the numbers, indicating that the tech industry and communications especially are seeing the most active and profitable period in two and a half years -- i.e., ever since Berkery Noyes has been conducting this report.

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Berkery, Noyes & Co., LLC., is an investment firm that has been "specializing in the information content and technology industries" since 1980.

James Lee Phillips is a Senior Writer & Research Analyst for IBG.com. With offices in Dallas, Las Vegas, and New York, & London, IBG is quickly becoming the leading expert in Internet Marketing, Local Search, SEO, Website Development and Reputation Management. More information can be found at www.ibg.com. KrittibasRay explains asset management! Asset managers study the markets and the companies from which particular stocks and bonds are issued and decide which are best for their clients!

This article is contributed by IBG.com and does not represent the views or opinions of International Business Times.