Facebook Says it Will Acquire 15 Companies in 2011, Up 2X From 2010

Facebook will double its pace of startup acquisitions next year and expects to acquire as many as 15 different companies in order to absorb new ideas and technology. That according to statements made by Michael Brown, corporate development manager at Facebook, at a seminar titled “Startup Exit Seminar: Early Stage M&A,” in San Francisco last week.

Brown’s statement was videotaped and reported on by Alastair Goldfisher of private equity blog PEHub this afternoon. We’ve embedded the key part of the video below.

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Goldfisher rounded up all of Facebook’s 2010 acquisitions thusly:

Altogether, Facebook announced eight acquisitions in 2010, including Hot Potato; Drop.io (another RRE Ventures-backed company snapped up for about $10 million); Divvyshot (a photo management tech company that grew out of Y Combinator and was bought for an undisclosed amount); Chai Labs (acquired for $10 million); and Nextstop (bought for $2.5 million). Facebook’s largest purchase this year was the $40 million it paid to take ownership of social networking patents from Friendster.

It’s notable that none of the startups acquired in 2010, as far as I know, are still open for business and providing their services to their old users. FriendFeed, which Facebook acquired in August of 2009, is unusual in that it is still operating, in part as a test-bed for future Facebook features. When Facebook announced a new user registration technology yesterday, for example, the company referenced how well the technology had performed in testing on FriendFeed.

Startup founders, this means your odds of getting acquired by Facebook are looking better than ever. Startup technology lovers, this probably means you’re twice as likely to have your heart broken next year. Facebook lovers – it sounds like you’re going to see some more cool features coming to the world’s biggest social network, at a fast and furious pace.

Thanks to Atul Arora for finding and sharing this news.

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