How Google looks at M&A
Yesterday, at our monthly M&A Flash webinar, I had the great pleasure of introducing my old, old friend, Charles Rim, now a Corp Dev Principal at Google. He has been involved in mergers and acquisitions and corporate development for over two decades, most of that time in Asia. Charlie is back in the States now at Google HQ and part of a small group involved in every M&A related project at the company.
Many questions were posed by my colleagues and from the audience of over 250 participants.
A few takeaways:
• 90% of the Google deals are with companies employing 20 or fewer and for less than $20m
• The majority of acquisitions are sourced in the field, and executive sponsorship is key
• The success of acquisitions at Google is measured by the number of employees who stay with Google and how long
• It is all about technology and the term “pre-revenue is preferred”
• Google does analyze buy versus build, and never does a DCF (discounted cash flow) to help determine valuation
Charlie had a lot more to say and I strongly recommend if you missed the live webinar to listen to the rebroadcast on Nov. 11. Register here.
Posted by MiroParizek, Managing Director on 06 November 2009
Comments (0)