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In startup land, the mandate is to get bought, go public, or die trying.

And, as far as getting bought goes, one of tech鈥檚 Big Five could be a desirable acquirer. They have a lot of weight to throw around. (the parent company of Google), , , , and account for a titanic amount of market value, close to $3.9 trillion at time of writing. At least, that鈥檚 according to 小蓝视频色情网页版 News鈥檚 .

When challenged by one another, these hulking behemoths of the tech sector more often fight than flee. And when challenged by a scrappy upstart, it is likely that they will gobble up the talent, technology, and business of any aspiring competitor. It鈥檚 the .

And it鈥檚 those acquisitions we鈥檙e going to look at here.

Taken together, tech鈥檚 Big Five account for a relatively small portion of the overall M&A market. The chart below shows the number of acquisitions made by members of tech鈥檚 Big Five from 2007 through 2017. (For reference, 小蓝视频色情网页版 records thousands of acquisitions per year.)

But what the Big Five lack in quantity is made up for in size. If you鈥檒l forgive the big game pun, acquisitions by Big Five account for a lion鈥檚 share of big deals in dollar terms.

So, for each of the Big Five, let鈥檚 see just how big some of those deals got. We base our analysis on 小蓝视频色情网页版 data that, whenever possible, has been cross-checked with public news sources and regulatory filings. We鈥檒l proceed from the most valuable (in market capitalization terms) to the least.

Apple

Despite being the most valuable among the Big Five, Apple鈥檚 acquisitions are not just among the smallest of the bunch, but also the least disclosed. In other words, out of the deals listed in 小蓝视频色情网页版 and elsewhere, most of them don鈥檛 have dollar values attached to them. This may speak to Apple鈥檚 secretiveness and its tendency to build most of its products and services in-house.

Apple鈥檚 biggest M&A deal to date was its , which is perhaps best known for its flashy wireless headphones. But it鈥檚 not the headphones that caught Apple鈥檚 eye. Rather, it was its streaming service, which Apple CEO was 鈥渢he first subscription service that really got it right.鈥�

Including the Beats deal, here are the largest M&A deals we were able to find.

Amazon

It鈥檚 hard to find a business vertical Amazon isn鈥檛 somehow involved in. Web hosting? Check. White-labeled staples like batteries and paper towels? Check. Doorbells? Check. They apparently sell books online, too.

Now, in all seriousness, Amazon鈥檚 in June 2017 brought the online shopping giant squarely into the world of brick-and-mortar retail as well. And while the Whole Foods deal was Amazon鈥檚 biggest splurge to date, it鈥檚 certainly not alone in the company鈥檚 collection of commerce company buys. These include Amazon鈥檚 buyout of (the parent company of Diapers.com and Soap.com, which was the first to offer the free two-day shipping Amazon Prime is famous for), footwear and clothing retailer , and Middle Eastern e-commerce site .

Alphabet

Of tech鈥檚 big five, Alphabet is the most acquisitive, and it makes the most corporate venture investments. It鈥檚 also the company with the most complicated corporate structure. Recall that Alphabet is the parent organization of Google, and it鈥檚 Google which has made the surpassing majority of Alphabet acquisitions.

But for all the resources Alphabet has put toward M&A, its acquisitiveness resulted in a rather mixed bag of results. Most glaring amongst its duds is its $3.2 billion buyout of and, relatedly, the $555 million spent on (which would later be rebranded as part of Nest鈥檚 home security offering). Nest failed to meet revenue expectations and seize a dominant position in the connected home market, ceding ground to incumbents like Honeywell. And there are plenty of scrappy upstarts nipping Nest鈥檚 heels in markets like home security, smart doorbells, and smart locks.

This being said, then-Google鈥檚 Youtube deal is likely Alphabet鈥檚 best acquisition from an ROI perspective. Although Alphabet doesn鈥檛 break out Youtube鈥檚 revenue, some good estimates and public market comps suggest the video streaming unit .

Microsoft

Microsoft made news this week by announcing of software version control and code hosting platform for $7.5 billion. And, at this point, it seems like Microsoft is timing announcements of its biggest deals just to dunk on Apple. Myke Hurley, a tech podcaster and the founder of , observed that Microsoft鈥檚 2016 acquisition of LinkedIn and its GitHub deal were both announced on the opening day of Apple鈥檚 Worldwide Developers Conference.

Apart from cheeky timing, you will notice that Microsoft has made the largest M&A deals among tech鈥檚 Big Five.

Facebook

Of the Big Five companies in tech, Facebook鈥檚 M&A patterns seem to be the most binary. Its deals are either tiny or humongous. There isn鈥檛 much of a middle ground.

Some of Facebook鈥檚 biggest acquisitions present a case study of acquiring one鈥檚 way to nearly insurmountable market dominance. Although its acquisitions of and didn鈥檛 cause much of a stir at the time, today these deals are seen as a cautionary case for current and future antitrust regulators.

On a brighter note, though, Facebook鈥檚 M&A record is also an object lesson in the 鈥渂uy versus build鈥� dilemma many companies face. It鈥檚 sometimes more expedient to buy a company (and, critically, its engineering team) than to build new features from scratch. For many of the smaller deals listed here, we can see that Facebook opted to buy.

The Big Five鈥檚 Acquisitions In Perspective

At the very top of the tech food chain, the Big Five are in a unique position, and not just as rainmakers for VCs seeking liquidity.

Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft are some of the most powerful companies operating today, and their acquisitions tell part of the story of how they got to prominent positions in the first place.

Although some acquisitions appear to come out of the blue, it鈥檚 important to remember that one doesn鈥檛 just buy a company for the heck of it. There鈥檚 a strategic motivation for these deals at the time they鈥檙e made. And when these deals are struck, they can telegraph the company鈥檚 future plans.

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