AN INFOGRAPHIC OF GOOGLE'S 11-YEAR HISTORY OF ACQUISITIONS, SOMETIMES YOU WONDER WHAT THEY WERE THINKING

Google's buying activity has seen an interesting spike in recent years, and what it's buying tells you a lot about U.S. innovation and Google's surprisingly conservative strategy.

The relentless, daily stream of Google news tends to hide one important fact about the company: They've been buying a lot of smaller companies, in their ever-evolving quest to dominate the online ad market and shore up their defenses against disruptive innovations or nagging patent lawsuits.

Here's an infographic illustrating that, created by Antonio Lupetti, the founder of Italian tech site Woorkup:

The main take-away, of course, is that Google has actually been quite strategic about its biggest purchases: These aren't big-ticket impulse buys, as you might expect given Google's wild-and-wacky image as loving innovation for innovation's sake. In each case, from Double-Click to Ad Mob to YouTube, the focus has been on shoring up its core advertising business. (Granted, the AOL "acquisition" is actually more of a strategic partnership, but never mind. That's still a lot of money.) The fact is that Google keeps its bets on crazy ideas small and well distributed, while it reserves its biggest cheese for (almost) sure things.

The one seeming outlier, of course, is YouTube. But that was a different sort of bet: It hinged on the idea that Google was a master of monetization, and would be able to bring its ad-words intelligence to online videos, which hadn't really ever had a working business model. After some rather large hiccups--including a stunning rate of cash burn--it seems to be working, even as YouTube expands into original content in hopes of creating a more robust set of offerings to advertisers that would rather not be too attached to Keyboard Cat and Chocolate Rain.

If you think about Google as one giant bellweather of the state of innovation in the U.S., then the fact that 74 of its 102 acquisitions were of U.S. companies is a very good sign indeed. It would probably be worrying if, for example, Google had to look overseas for the best companies to buy. That might mean that Silicon Valley, the greatest innovation engine known to man, was losing some of its mojo. But that clearly doesn't seem to be happening, to judge by these data.

But the last, most interesting part is actually at the end, and totally obfuscated by the confusing data representation. Look at the line showing the number of acquisitions that Google has conducted. The last two years have seen a very large spike in buying activity -- and 2011 isn't even done yet. It would be easy to read too much into that -- to interpret Google as being desperate for new avenues of growth, for example. But at the very least you can say that Google isn't letting its enormous pile of cash sit around, as it once seemed so content to do.

Here's the actual list of Google's major acquisitions between February 12, 2001 and August 15, 2011.

N0	Acq Date	Company	Business	Country	Value $	Used For	Ref
1	February 12, 2001	Deja	Usenet	USA		Google Groups	[1]
2	September 20, 2001	Outride	Web search engine	USA		Google Personalized Search (iGoogle)	[2]
3	February 2003	Pyra Labs	Weblog software	USA		Blogger	[3]
4	April 2003	Neotonic Software	Customer relationship management	USA		Google Groups, Gmail	[4]
5	April 2003	Applied Semantics	Online advertising	USA	$102 Mil	AdSense,  AdWords	[5]
6	September 30, 2003	Kaltix	Web search engine	USA		iGoogle	[6]
7	October 2003	Sprinks	Online advertising	USA		AdSense,  AdWords	[7]
8	October 2003	Genius Labs	Blogging	USA		Blogger	[8]
9	May 10, 2004	Ignite Logic	HTML editor	USA		Google Sites	[9]
10	July 13, 2004	Picasa	Image organizer	USA		Picasa, Blogger	[10]
11	September 2004	ZipDash	Traffic analysis	USA		Google Maps for Mobile	[11]
12	October 2004	Where2	Map analysis	AUS		Google Maps	[12]
13	October 27, 2004	Keyhole, Inc	Map analysis	USA		Google Maps, Google Earth	[13]
14	March 28, 2005	Urchin Software Corporation	Web analytics	USA		Google Analytics	[14]
15	May 12, 2005	Dodgeball	Social networking service	USA		Google Latitude	[15]
16	July 2005	Reqwireless	Mobile browser	CAN		Google Mobile	[16]
17	July 7, 2005	Current Communications Group	Broadband Internet access	USA	$100 Mil	Internet  backbone	[17]
18	August 17, 2005	Android	Mobile software	USA	$50 Mil	Android	[19]
19	November 2005	Skia	Graphics software	USA		Android,      Google      Chrome	[20]
20	November 17, 2005	Akwan Information Technologies	Search Engines	BRA		Internet  backbone	[21]
21	December 20, 2005	AOLA	Broadband Internet access	USA	$1.0 Bil		[22]
22	December 27, 2005	Phatbits	Widget engine	USA		Google Desktop	[23]
23	December 31, 2005	allPAY GmbH	Mobile software	GER		Google Mobile	[24]
24	December 31, 2005	bruNET GmbH	Mobile software	GER		Google Mobile	[24]
25	January 17, 2006	dMarc Broadcasting	Advertising	USA	$102 Mil	AdSense	[25]
26	February 14, 2006	Measure Map	Weblog software	USA		Google Analytics	[26]
27	March 9, 2006	Upstartle	Word processor	USA		Google Docs	[27]
28	March 14, 2006	@Last Software	3D modeling software	USA		Google Sketchup	[28]
29	April 9, 2006	Orion	Web search engine	AUS		Google Search	[29]
30	June 1, 2006	2Web Technologies	Online spreadsheets	USA		Google Spreadsheet	[30][31]
31	August 15, 2006	Neven Vision Germany GmbH	Computer vision (Face detection,Facial recognition system)	GER		Picasa & Google Goggles	[32]
32	October 9, 2006	YouTube	Video sharing	USA	$1.65 Bil	YouTube	[33][34]
33	October 31, 2006	JotSpot	Web application	USA		Google Sites	[35]
34	December 18, 2006	Endoxon	Mapping	CHE	$28 Mil	Google Maps	[36]
35	January 4, 2007	XunleiB	File sharing	CHN	$5 Mil		[37]
36	February 16, 2007	Adscape	In-game advertising	USA	$23 Mil	AdSense	[38]
37	March 16, 2007	Trendalyzer	Statistical software	SWE		Google Analytics	[39]
38	April 17, 2007	Tonic Systems	Presentation program	USA		Google Docs	[40]
39	April 19, 2007	Marratech	Videoconferencing	SWE	$15 Mil	Google Talk	[41]
40	April 13, 2007	DoubleClick	Online advertising	USA	$3.1 Bil	AdSense	[42][43][44]
41	May 11, 2007	GreenBorder	Computer security	USA		Google Chrome	[45]
42	June 1, 2007	Panoramio	Photo sharing	ESP		Panoramio	[46]
43	June 3, 2007	FeedBurner	Web feed	USA	$100 Mil	FeedBurner	[47]
44	June 5, 2007	PeakStream	Parallel processing	USA		Server (computing)	[48]
45	June 19, 2007	Zenter	Presentation program	USA		Google Docs	[49]
46	July 2, 2007	GrandCentral	Voice over Internet Protocol	USA	$45 Mil	Google Voice	[50][51]
47	July 20, 2007	ImageAmerica	Aerial photography	USA		Google Maps	[52]
48	July 9, 2007	Postini	Communications security	USA	$625 Mil	Gmail	[53]
49	September 27, 2007	Zingku	Social networking service	USA		Google Mobile	[54]
50	October 9, 2007	Jaiku	Microblogging	FIN		Google Mobile	[55]
51	July 30, 2008	Omnisio	Online video	USA	$15 Mil	YouTube	[56]
52	September 12, 2008	TNC (Tatter and Company)	Weblog software	KOR		Blogger	[57]
53	August 5, 2009	On2	Video compression	USA	$133 Mil	WebM & YouTube	[58]
54	September 16, 2009	reCAPTCHA	Security	USA		Google Books	[59]
55	November 9, 2009	AdMob	Mobile advertising	USA	$750 Mil		[60]
56	November 9, 2009	Gizmo5	Voice over Internet Protocol	USA	$30 Mil	Google Talk	[61]
57	November 23, 2009	Teracent	Online advertising	USA		AdSense	[62]
58	December 4, 2009	AppJet (EtherPad)	Collaborative real-time editor	USA		Google Wave, Google Docs	[63]
59	February 12, 2010	Aardvark	Social search	USA	$50 Mil	Aardvark	[64]
60	February 17, 2010	reMail	Email Search	USA		Gmail	[65]
61	March 1, 2010	Picnik	Photo Editing	USA	$5.0 Mil	Picasa	[66][67]
62	March 5, 2010	DocVerse	Microsoft Office files sharing site	USA	$25 Mil	Google Docs	[68]
63	April 2, 2010	Episodic	Online video platform start-up	USA		YouTube	[69]
64	April 12, 2010	PlinkArt	Visual search engine Mobile start-up	UK		Google Goggles	[70]
65	April 20, 2010	Agnilux	Server technology start-up	USA			[71]
66	April 27, 2010	LabPixies	Gadgets	ISR			[72]
67	April 30, 2010	BumpTop	Desktop environment	CAN	$30 Mil	Android	[73]
68	May 20, 2010	Simplify Media	Music syncing	UK		Android	[74]
69	May 21, 2010	Ruba.com	Travel	USA		Google	[75]
70	June 3, 2010	Invite Media	Advertising	USA	$81 Mil	DoubleClick	[76]
71	July 1, 2010	ITA Software	Travel technology	USA	$700 Mil		[77]
72	July 16, 2010	Metaweb	Semantic search	USA			[78]
73	August 2010	Zetawire	Mobile payment, NFC	CAN		Android	[79]
74	August 4, 2010	Instantiations	Java/Eclipse/AJAX Developer Tools	USA		Google Web Toolkit	[80][81]
75	August 5, 2010	Slide.com	Social gaming	USA	$228 Mil		[82]
76	August 10, 2010	Jambool	Social Gold payment	USA	$70 Mil		[83]
77	August 15, 2010	Like.com	Visual Search Engine	USA	$100 Mil	boutiques.com	[84][85]
78	August 30, 2010	Angstro	Social networking service	USA			[86]
79	August 30, 2010	SocialDeck, Inc.	Social gaming	CAN			[87]
80	September 13, 2010	Quiksee	Online video	ISR	$10 Mil	Google Maps	[88]
81	September 28, 2010	Plannr	Schedule Management	USA			[89]
82	October 1, 2010	BlindType	Touch typing	GRE		Android	[90][91]
83	December 3, 2010	Phonetic Arts	Speech synthesis	UK		Google Voice, Google Translate	[92]
84	December 3, 2010	Widevine Tecnologies	DRM	USA		Google TV	[93]
85	January 13, 2011	eBook Technologies	E-book	USA		Google Books	[94]
86	January 25, 2011	SayNow	Voice Recognition	USA		Google Voice	[95]
87	January 26, 2011	fflick	Social networking service	USA	$10 Mil	YouTube	[96][97]
88	March 1, 2011	Zynamics	Security	GER			[98][99]
89	March 7, 2011	BeatThatQuote.com	Price comparison service	UK	£37.7 Mil	Google Advisor	[100][101]
90	March 7, 2011	Next New Networks	Online video	USA		YouTube	[102]
91	March 16, 2011	Green Parrot Pictures	Digital video	IRL		YouTube	[103]
92	April 8, 2011	PushLife	Service provider	CAN	$25 Mil		[104]
93	April 26, 2011	TalkBin	Mobile software	USA		Android	[105]
94	May 23, 2011	Sparkbuy	Price comparison service	USA		Google Product Search	[106]
95	June 3, 2011	PostRank	Social media analytics service	CAN			[107]
96	June 9, 2011	Admeld	Online advertising	USA	$400 Mil	DoubleClick, Invite Media	[108][109]
97	June 18, 2011	SageTV	Media Center	USA		Google TV	[110]
98	July 8, 2011	Punchd	Loyalty program	USA		Google Wallet	[111][112]
99	July 21, 2011	Fridge	Social groups	USA		Google+	[113]
100	July 23, 2011	PittPatt	Facial recognition system	USA			[114]
101	August 1, 2011	Dealmap	One deal a day service	USA		Google Offers	[115]
102	August 15, 2011	Motorola Mobility   (Pending Approval)	Mobile device manufacturer	USA	$12.5 Bil	Android,Google TV	[116][117]

COMMENTARY:   It's incredible just how active Google has been in acquiring companies.  I thought the $3.1 billion that they paid for DoubleClick was way too much.  I covered Google's $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility in a blog post dated August 15, 2011, and it now appears to have been strictly to acquire Motorola's intellectual propoerty as a defensive strategy to defend itself against various lawsuits involving patent infringements.  Motorola Mobility's revenues have been relatively flat over the last three years, and it ranks No 6 among mobile phone manufacturer's with a 4.08% share of the smartphone market.   Google will now compete against its Android phone partners in the smartphone business, a move that might backfire.  It really has its work cut out to fix Motorola's business model and financial performance.  But, first the deal needs to be approved by the FTC, and if it is not approved, Google will end up paying Motorola a penalty of $2.5 billion.

Courtesy of an article dated August 25, 2011 appearing in Fast Company Design