by Mika » 11 Feb 2024, 01:24 Microsoft is one of the biggest companies in the world. Do you think Microsoft made all its money just by selling Windows Software? Well, that’s not the case. Microsoft owns and manages a lot of companies and products from a game called Minecraft and gaming device called xBox, to a social media site LinkedIn, Github, a community for developers, Azure, a cloud computing platform, a d a lot more. Do you know not all of these products are created by Microsoft? Microsoft acquired LinkedIn for $26.2 billion in 2016, Minecraft for 2.5 billion in 2014, Skype for $8.5 billion in 2011.
Minecraft is not the only company that has grown super big by acquiring products and companies. There are many companies that have followed the same strategy, For example, YouTube was not created by Google, it was bought for $1.65 billion in 2006. It is estimated that Youtbe has a value of between $140 and $300 billion. Similarly, Meta bought Instagram and WhatsApp from their original creators, these products worth much more now than what Meta paid for them.
Another fine example comes from Twitter or X, as it is called now. Twitter was a publically company until Musk bought it. Musk paid $44 billion for Twitter, the current value is estimated to be $41 but in a few years time, X will worth a way more than what Musk paid for.
Big business continues to become big, entrepreneurs continue to grow bigger because they not just create a business and run the business, they buy businesses and add value to the acquired business and build their worth. Buying businesses is one of the common strategy of big businesses and big investors.
If you do not have your own idea or if you think it will be too risky to validate your business idea, you can buy businesses and make money from them. This is not an easy process, though. You might need to invest more money to grow the business and have the vision to grow it big. You also need knowledge and skills to run it. Plus, buying a business costs a lot of money, and this is not for those who lack funds. Musk took a loan to by Twitter, not everyone has guts to do that. However, buying business is a good option for those who have a lot of money, but for others, starting their own business might be better. Growing your self created business can also be a daunting task. For instance, would the creators of Youtube would have been able to make youtube what it is now? I really doubt it. BY selling it, the three creates shared $1.65 billion and became millionaires back in 2006.
