Google Inc expects to buy one small company a month as it rekindles its acquisition engine and moves beyond the worst phase of the global recession, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said in an interview on Wednesday.
The Web search giant has historically maintained a steady pace of acquiring small, privately held companies, but its deal machine took a breather earlier this year when Schmidt said that prices were too high for his liking.
“Acquisitions are turned on again at Google and we are doing our normal maneuvers, which is small companies,” Schmidt told Reuters Television, before delivering a speech on green technology on the fringes of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh.
“My estimate would be one-a-month acquisitions and these are largely in lieu of hiring,” he said. “There may be larger acquisitions, but they really are unpredictable.”
In August, Google announced the purchase of video software maker On2 Technologies for $106.5 million — its first acquisition of a public company.
In the interview, which covered a wide range of subjects from new business initiatives to the various regulatory issues facing the company, Schmidt also reiterated his view that the worst of the global recession is over, seeing improvement both inside and outside the United States
