Google or Yahoo?

Which web giant best nurtures its upstart acquisitions?

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By Stacy Cowley, FSB contributor
November 9 2007: 10:00 AM EST

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The favored exit strategy for internet startups is no longer an IPO but a splashy acquisition - preferably by Yahoo or Google. In the past decade each company has purchased around 40 small businesses, but for every YouTube (Google) or Flickr (Yahoo), there have been less flashy integrations and outright flameouts.

Google (Charts, Fortune 500) bought social-networking site Dodgeball in 2005 and then left it to flounder. "The whole experience was incredibly frustrating for us - especially as we couldn't convince them that Dodgeball was worth engineering resources," Dodgeball co-founder Dennis Crowley blogged after he and partner Alex Rainert left Google.

Rich Riley has fared better. He is still with Yahoo (Charts, Fortune 500) nine years after it bought his startup, Log-Me-On.com, for $9.9 million and developed its technology into the Yahoo Toolbar. "What has kept me here is that it's just an incredibly entrepreneurial culture," says Riley, who was recently promoted to senior vice president of Yahoo Europe.

In other deals, though, Yahoo's ventures have stalled. It spent around $13 million to buy Sold.com.au and two years later redirected traffic to eBay, abandoning the market.

So, head-to-head, how successful have Google and Yahoo been at advancing their purchases? Take a peek at FSB's scorecard.  To top of page

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Market indexes are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer LIBOR Warning: Neither BBA Enterprises Limited, nor the BBA LIBOR Contributor Banks, nor Reuters, can be held liable for any irregularity or inaccuracy of BBA LIBOR. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2012 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer The Dow Jones IndexesSM are proprietary to and distributed by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and have been licensed for use. All content of the Dow Jones IndexesSM © 2012 is proprietary to Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Chicago Mercantile Association. The market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2012. All rights reserved. Most stock quote data provided by BATS.
© 2012 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Privacy Policy. Ad choices .