mergertech

"Key members of our team are joining the company and will be working hard to integrate our technology to make the ads you see on Facebook every day better and more relevant to you," The Find said in a statement. "Unfortunately, this means we will be taking our search engine offline in the next few weeks."

"Value is in the eye of the beholder," explains Carolyn Brown in a blog post for Inc. Magazine. "Generally speaking, market value is one indicator. Other price factors are capitalization of earnings, discounted cash flow, and net return of assets or equity.

For businesses in any industry, developing a strong web presence has never been more critical. That's how hosting companies like GoDaddy have pitched themselves to individuals and corporate entities who need a home for all of their content online. By selling website domains and supporting clients with design services, GoDaddy has amassed a serious following.

One of the clashes that can result from an acquisition is that of corporate cultures. For example, a hip and casual startup might be acquired by a more formal, buttoned-up buyer. The startup thrives on looser approaches and informal communication, while the larger corporation would descend into chaos if it weren't strictly managed. These differences can be exacerbated when the two companies join forces and merge goals.

Crafting solutions for the medical industry is a lucrative and bustling corner of the tech marketplace. This week, it was announced that IBM acquired Explorys and Phytel, two health tech startups that stand to improve the company's health-focused data-analytics capabilities.

"Get ready for a major boom in technology mergers," reads a Business Insider headline proclaiming the next wave of M&A deals in the tech industry. After a highly active year of deals among tech companies, experts say that 2015 is staged to witness another round of important mergers and acquisitions.

Some companies have seemingly no choice but to merge when market pressure or the cost of operations becomes unsustainable. However, many tech executives have a wide array of M&A options to consider when they feel their company's growing pains.

This week, it was announced that Chinese firm Ninebot has purchased Segway. Sequoia Capital, Shunwei Foundation and Xiaomi's MIUI Technology backed the deal with a reported $80 million in capital, though the total price of the acquisition was not disclosed.

One of the hardest parts of freelancing is getting paid. One of the most challenging aspects of working with freelancers, especially spread out geographically, is paying them. As a result, tech firms have seized that window to provide solutions for connecting freelance professionals with cash flow.

Comcast has been identified as the least popular company in America by a number of surveys. Because cable users have felt dissatisfied with the service and pricing structure of Comcast's services, convincing the country that this deal would improve user experiences was a tough sell.

For a company as big as Apple, a single app has many channels of development. This week, it was revealed that Apple acquired Ottocat, a search engine company that has helped to develop the "explore" tab in Apple's app store application. In an unusual twist, it turns out that Apple purchased Ottocat years ago, as early as May 2013.

On this blog, we've discussed the importance of sharpening your elevator pitch. It might seem implausible that you would literally find yourself in an elevator with the executive who will buy your company, but it's likely that you're networking in circles where making the best, briefest case for your firm is important.

Like "cybersquatting" with URLs, individuals can also obtain usernames that are most appropriate for your brand. Encumbering your social media accounts with underscores, numbers and other symbols can cause your strategy to look scrappy and poorly-executed. Because there's such a premium on clean, essential handles, they can be difficult (or impossible) to attain once another user has acquired them.

Like the tech market, the food marketplace has seen rapid growth of diversity over the last decade. As established brands attempt to make an impression in the industry, sometimes company mergers are the most prudent way to optimize the operations of both companies involved. When businesses grow as large as they can on their own, the next logical step is often to combine forces with a peer in the industry. With tremendous stature in the food space, Heinz and Kraft stand to make an even greater impact in supermarkets.

Analysts and executives were floored by the blazing pace of tech mergers in 2014 but in the first quarter of 2015, the size and rate of mergers has already improved on last year. So far, six deals have netted more than $55.3 billion in total, up 9.5 percent from this time last year. The stat shows how busy the first quarter has been and bodes well for continued activity moving into the second, third and final quarters of 2015.

On this blog, we recently discussed 2015's ambitious start to the first quarter, but a new study about 2014 tech M&A activity puts the rapid growth into perspective. According to Tech World, the total value of mergers and acquisitions in the tech industry hit the $1 trillion mark last year.

For some companies, the decision to merge or be acquired is an easy one to make. For example, a small firm with very limited resources might need to be purchased for it to have any hope of reaching its growth objectives. On the other hand, a firm in a narrow market might see a competitor with whom it makes perfect sense to merge equitably.

Many are accustomed to thinking of "spring cleaning" as a set of chores to tidy up a home or office. However, tech companies seeking to merge, acquire or be acquired in 2015 might want to conduct a spring cleaning of their brand presentation.

The last two years have marked rapid growth in health care mergers and acquisitions. From merging hospitals to pharmaceutical companies buying small biotech startups, the medical field is rife with opportunity and examples of successful mergers. The key word is "solutions."

One of the most lucrative and rapidly expanding tech fields is "ed tech," or startups and companies focused on improving educational experiences. From learning modules for secondary schools to coursework platforms for college students, solutions for teachers and administrators have become a hot commodity. One city where this is especially true is Boston, where colleges per capita outpaces every other metro area.