Looking back, 2011 didn’t make much of an impact as far as acquisition deals and huge tech mergers are concerned. But nevertheless, there were vigorous activities all throughout. We did see some top 10 acquisitions taking place in different fields like mobility, IT M&A, big data, software as a service and social networking. Product based Original Equipment
Manufacturing Deals are also included in the list.
You will find Google celebrating on a higher note this coming New Year as it managed to rope in more than fifty companies this year. Although 22 deals have been finalized, the rest will follow suit. Other companies like SAP, HP, Microsoft, Oracle and Dell too did not lag far behind a where top 10 acquisitions of 2011are concerned. They have rounded up their portfolio as a more mature one with a couple of acquisitions.
Let us now take a look at the top acquisitions of 2011
1. Microsoft shakes hands with Skype to
This is one of the top 10 acquisitions with a transaction value: crossing $8 billion. Microsoft has decided cough up those billions to improve the video chat capabilities of Skype and post videos in multimedia products like Windows phone, Xbox Live and IE 8. What is interesting about this acquisition is that it is symbolic of one of the latest trends in CIO and which is the consumerization of IT enterprise. It seems there are no sharp lines any longer between consumer IT and business. Clearly, Microsoft will try to capitalize on by incorporating the consumer-oriented Skype video chat software with its unified messaging and communications platforms. Who knows, maybe Microsoft will finally land Yahoo in 2012?
2. Google with Motorola for patency fortification
With a transaction value of $12.5 billion, this is the second largest of the top 10 acquisitions or deal in 2011. Google was drawn to the extensive patency of its Android version phones by Motorola. Google will also unite with Motorola to make Google TV and start on IPTV service. It is a clear sign that eventually, Google wants to take on Apple and Microsoft/Nokia as a provider of mobile devices, chiefly Android operating system on Motorola smartphones.
3. SAP and SuccessFactors
SAP is perhaps now ready to let the let the tiger out of the cage where cloud computing is concerned, as quoted by Bill McDermott. Its $3.4 billion deal, as among the top 10 acquisitions of 201, to buy SuccessFactors, which is the producer of cloud-based HR, collaboration software as well as recruitment, SAP finally seems to be moving beyond its roots as software company. Lars Dalgaard, the dynamic CEO, of SuccessFactors clearly wants its cloud business to go heads up with joint effort of SAP, that plans to moves on aggressively in the cloud, whether through
4. HP gulps down Autonomy
Another of the top acquisitions of 2011, with a value crossing $10 billion is perhaps the largest enterprise software acquisition. Perhaps the deal is too huge as the price tag is almost 12 times Autonomy’s revenue in 2010. According to Leo Apotheker, HP’s CEO at the time, who has now been replaced by Meg Whitman, the hottest IT markets were passing HP by and it needed to make a go, sooner or later. And Autonomy is no slouch and is an undisputed leader in e-discovery, content management software—search and archiving. It helps millions of customers to underhand and makes sense of their data. HP, who has remained sluggish with hardware businesses for a year now, it has surely taken a leap with its purchase of Autonomy.
5. AT&T and T-Mobile
The biggest tech deal of 2011 reaching almost $40 billion and one of the top 10 acquisitions is the merge of No. 2 and No. 4 U.S. mobile carriers, AT&T and T-Mobile. This is perhaps the biggest non-starter actually as trustbusters, competitors and politicians stepped in to prevent this merge. Should the deal fall apart, AT&T will be obliged to payT-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom $6 billion in cash and compensation.
6. RightNow with Oracle
The RightNow deal with Oracle, one of the tech industry’s most avid companies, doesn’t think much about lapping up products when it comes to buying into hot markets. It was announced at the Oracle OpenWorld conference that Oracle would be getting hold of RightNow, which is a leader in making SaaS-based customer services and management apps. It is seen as a slight competitor to Salesforce, whose cloud-based services have been hogging most of the limelight in enterprise software.
7. Dell and Force10
Although the precise financial terms weren’t disclosed, Dell’s acquisition of Force10 Networks , a switching vendor to get hold of Compellent Technologies, boosts up its reliability as a big group data center supplier. The other giants in this realm are Brocade, Cisco, HP etc. According to Dell, the market share of Force10 is still a very minute 1%, but it is confident that due to the superior technology, customers are bound to come in sooner. This too is considered to be among the top 10 acquisitions of 2011.
8. VMware and Socialcast
VMware, the Virtualization market leader isn’t resistant to social business fever it seems. It, acquired Socialcast, a producer of cloud-based communications and collaboration software that imitates the interaction approach of social networks, but with the right management, top security and integration functions of an enterprise system. Apart from the deal with Socialcast, there were other cloud acquisitions by VMware, Zimbra and SlideRocket.
9. SAS Institute and Assetlink
Another of the top 10 acquisitions of 201, this deal, although not the very top tech M&A material itself, hold importance, in context of the hot trends it sets. It represents the CMOs move to relate analytics to their promotions, ad campaigns, marketing programs and other social outreaches, to refine and prove their efficiency. Assetlink, that produces the marketing resource management software, is an expert in creating workflows, managing the content and leads, planning and budgeting ad expenditures.
10. Radian and Salesforce.com
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As Salesforce.com pressed on its social enterprise program, including its Twitter-like Chatter service. Radian6, it became one of the top acquisitions of 2011. Althoguh the deal was not much talked about, valuing about $320 million, it was tactically significant to one of the industry’s hottest vendors. Radian6, it seems has become the basis of Salesforce’s Social Marketing Cloud.
Tags: acquisitions of 2011, top 10 acquisitions, top 10 acquisitions of 2011
