Google Inc. landed first place on the list of top acquirers for 2010, snatching up 10 venture-backed companies for the year, according to the Wall Street Journal. Runners up, Facebook and IBM took in only five, followed by Zynga Game Network with four.
Google's acquisitions range from the $750 million purchase of AdMob Inc., the mobile ad network, to the 15-month-old Ruba Inc.
In 2009, Google made only three acquisitions, putting them in ninth place overall from 2000-2009. The web giant's 2010's deals have landed them in the fourth spot on the most-active acquirer list with 25 deals since 2000. Cisco Systems Inc. is in the top slot with 51 venture-backed acquisitions in the past decade.
Google's 2010 acquisitions, according to VentureSource are: Aardvark, ReMail, Bump Technologies, Episodic, Ruba, Invite Media, Metaweb, Slide, Jambool, and Like.com.
