There have been days, weeks, and months where it seemed like Google was on a never-ending acquisition spree. Now Microsoft seems to have picked up on idea; Steve Ballmer has announced that his corporation will acquire 20 companies per year for the next five years.
Ballmer Embarks On Buying Binge
Ballmer even gave an audience at the Web 2.0 Summit an email address (steveb at microsoft dot com) in the event anyone in it wanted to be among the 100 lucky targets.
You, too, dear reader, are welcome to drop him a carefully-written, self-promotional line if you have something worth selling.
But what, exactly, would that be? And what sort of sum could you expect in return?
Our own David Utter explains that Ballmer’s looking to spend $50 million to $1 billion per acquisition, so teeny tiny companies may not be welcome, but Facebook-sized mammoths are also out of the running.
As for how this development may appear to onlookers, well . . . Chris Williams made a clever remark. “What’s the best way to inflate a bubble?” he asked. “Blowhard.”
Indeed, by committing his company to spending as much as $100 billion over five years – without naming so much as an area of interest – Ballmer could have made a very controversial move.
