Google and Yahoo are most startups' exit strategies, according to conventional wisdom. And now we've seen a few articles about how Google and Yahoo really aren't acquiring very many companies.
But Google and Yahoo are hardly the only companies that buy companies.
How about Amazon? Amazon buys companies, and is probably going to buy a lot more. Ebay. News Corp (Rupert Murdoch bought MySpace and wants to buy more). VeriSign. Cisco (it acquires small companies all the time!).
And it's not just the big boys. You don't necessarily need a serial acquirer -- for instant, stock site TheStreet bought out startup StockPickr. Private-but-successful startup Six Apart (Type Pad, Moveable Type, for those of you who've been asleep) bought out LiveJournal.
This post isn't just a retort to the "better find another exit strategy" meme.
What other companies do acquisitions? I suspect I've barely scratched the surface here.
But Google and Yahoo are hardly the only companies that buy companies.
How about Amazon? Amazon buys companies, and is probably going to buy a lot more. Ebay. News Corp (Rupert Murdoch bought MySpace and wants to buy more). VeriSign. Cisco (it acquires small companies all the time!).
And it's not just the big boys. You don't necessarily need a serial acquirer -- for instant, stock site TheStreet bought out startup StockPickr. Private-but-successful startup Six Apart (Type Pad, Moveable Type, for those of you who've been asleep) bought out LiveJournal.
This post isn't just a retort to the "better find another exit strategy" meme.
What other companies do acquisitions? I suspect I've barely scratched the surface here.