Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is at it again. Having hardly digested other recent specialist acquisitions, the online giant is shelling out $625 million in cash to buy one of its managed applications partners,
Postini Inc. (See
Google Buys Postini.)
Postini offers hosted services, such as email security, instant messaging security, virus protection, message archiving, and message encryption, that enable companies to secure their inbound and outbound communications without having to install and manage on-premises systems. It has 35,000 corporate customers that, in total, employ about 10 million staff.
The move pushes Google further into the managed services territory that many carriers, and software giants such as
Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), regard as fertile ground for revenue growth.
Get the lowdown on Google's latest M&A move at our sister site,
Dark Reading. (See
Google Plucks Postini.)
Earlier this month, Google announced the acquisition of unified messaging specialist
Grand Central Communications Inc. That deal was preceded by the purchase of online media distribution specialist Feedburner, online geo-location startup Panoramio, and digital marketing giant
DoubleClick Inc. (See
Google Buys Unified Services Startup,
Google Acquires Feedburner,
Google Acquires Panaramio, and
Google Acquires DoubleClick.)
— Ray Le Maistre, International News Editor,
Light Reading
