Annual report: Microsoft acquisitions top $1.3 billion

Here's another detail from Microsoft's newly released Form 10K annual report: The company's spending on acquisitions doubled in its latest fiscal year, to $1.34 billion. And that's not counting Microsoft's $6 billion aQuantive deal, which isn't included in the total for the year, which ended June 30. That acquisition is still pending, with an aQuantive shareholder vote set for this week.

Despite spending more, Microsoft made fewer acquisitions -- 13 in 2007, according to the filing, compared with 21 the previous year. That means its average acquisition size in fiscal 2007 increased to $103 million, from $33 million the year before. The 2007 average was skewed significantly by Microsoft's acquisition of TellMe Networks, which reportedly cost the company at least $800 million. The grand total for the year gives further credence to those reports.

Microsoft had been making mostly smaller deals during the prior few years. But for the record, the $1.3 billion spent on acquisitions in fiscal 2007 isn't unprecedented for the company. In fiscal 2003, for example, Microsoft spent more than $2 billion on three companies alone: Rare, Navision and Placeware.

courtesy: blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com