Infographic – Company Acquisitions: Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Apple and Other Business Giants

In 2005, Rupert Murdoch, a veteran business mogul with a solid reputation in creating empires out of companies was so sure of social media’s future that he bought MySpace for a whopping $580 million. He couldn’t be any more right… and wrong. Social media was (and is) the future, but the future belongs to Facebook, a college dorm startup founded just a year before the MySpace deal. Years later, Murdoch would sell MySpace for $35 million – merely 6% of its acquisition price.

Such is the unpredictable nature of mergers & acquisitions, and that magnitude increases tenfold for technology companies whose hot products today can easily turn sour the next morning. In our latest infographic, we review the top technology mergers & acquisitions, their best bets and not-so good outcomes.

In the report After the Acquisition by Ernst & Young, the consulting firm identified “retaining key employees” as one of six major areas that make a successful M&A. True to form, many of these technology M&As targeted talents to expand their business.

Enjoy the following infographic that explores the world of recent tech acquisitions: SOURCE