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Two new product acquisitions have given Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) shares a nice boost in afternoon trading today.
The search-engine giant made dual purchases of Meebo and Quickoffice to expand its growing product lineup. Quickoffice is an application that allows users to open Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on their mobile devices. Meebo is a consumer internet company that drives user engagement to various advertisers and publishers across the web.
Google reportedly bought the service for $100 million to help attract more users to their Google+ platform.
The two deals have given Google shares a decent 1.65 nudge, though that’s less than the 2% gains the Nasdaq as a whole has made today. The real gains might not come until Google finds out whether these acquisitions add to the company’s bottom line.
Google’s Meebo acquisition is a clear shot across the bow of Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), which dominates the social-engagement landscape. Google+ is Google’s answer to Facebook, a social-networking site with 170 million users at the moment. At last count, Facebook had 845 million active monthly users – a number Google hopes to put a dent in with Google+.
Google’s Quickoffice purchase, meanwhile, is the company’s second in as many months to improve its mobile offerings. Last month’s $12.5 billion purchase of mobile device-maker Motorola Mobility was Google’s biggest acquisition to date, and a clear sign that the company is serious about expanding its footprint in the extremely lucrative mobile device market. Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), of course, dominates that market at the moment.
For Google’s stock, the move couldn’t be coming at a better time. Google shares are down more than 10% this year, and have fallen 8% in the last three weeks alone.