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"Google has placed one of its biggest bets on location to date, acquiring local reviews giant Zagat.  \nWriting on the company\u2019s official blog, Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of Local, Maps and Location Services, wrote, \u201CMoving forward, Zagat will be a cornerstone of our local offering \u2014 delighting people with their impressive array of reviews, ratings and insights, while enabling people everywhere to find extraordinary (and ordinary) experiences around the corner and around the world.\u201D\nZagat is far cry from the startups typically mentioned in the location space. The company was founded 32 years ago and started as a printed guide to restaurants, with \"Zagat Ratings\" becoming an industry standard. \nMore recently, however, Zagat has reinvented itself on the web and with mobile apps, bringing it into competition with the likes of Foursquare and Yelp.\nLocation has been a tough nut for Google to crack. The company acquired early location-based social networking service Dodgeball in 2005, only to eventually shut it down and see founder Dennis Crowley leave to start Foursquare. More recent attempts include Latitude, a largely forgotten Foursquare competitor, and Hotpot, a recommendation engine that's baked into Google Places.  The company also appointed Mayer, one of its most prominent executives, to lead its location efforts in late 2010.\nWhile we don't have a price tag on the Zagat acquisition yet, it's safe to call the buy one of Google's biggest to date in the content business. Here's a look at some of Google's largest acquisitions through the years:\n\n\nThe 10 Most Expensive Google Acquisitions\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1. dMarc Broadcasting\nIn January 2006, Google acquired advertising company dMarc Broadcasting for $102 million. Google integrated dMarc into its AdSense app.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2. On2 Technologies\nAfter negotiations between the two companies, Google acquired video compression company On2 in February 2010 for $133 million in Google stock. On2 designed video codec technology which Google used to optimize its WebM video format.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n3. Slide.com\nGoogle bought web 2.0 company Slide.com in August 2010 for $182 million. Originally founded by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin Slide.com was known as the largest third-party developer of Facebook applications until Google purchased it to \u201Cmake Google services socially aware.\u201D\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n4. Admeld\nGoogle purchased Admeld. in June 2011 for $400 million. The company specialized in optimizing online ad yield by simplifying ad display. Google integrated Admeld with its additional DoubleClick and Invite Media acquisitions.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n5. Postini\nIn July 2007 Google acquired web security and archiving company Postini for $625 million. It provides the cloud computing services and spam filters that Google soon integrated into Gmail.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n6. ITA Software\nGoogle purchaed travel industry software company ITA Software for $700 million in July 2010. Google uses ITA's software to optimize its travel and flight search.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n7. AdMob\nIn November 2009 Google acquired mobile ad company AdMob for $750 million. The company helped Google improve its mobile advertising solutions.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n8. YouTube\nLong ago in October 2006 Google bought YouTube for a shocking $1.65 billion. Although the company wasn't absorbed by Google Video, YouTube continues to function as a Google subsidiary.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n9. DoubleClick\nGoogle purchased DoubleClick for $3.1 billion in April 2007. The Google subsidiary provides ad service and support to AdSense.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n10. Motorola Mobility\nGoogle's most recent and expensive acquisition to date occurred August 15, 2011 with its purchase of Motorola Mobility. Motorola is one of 39 manufacturers of Android handsets. By purchasing the mobile hardware manufacturer, Google hopes \"to supercharge the Android ecosystem.\u201D\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2011/09/08/google-acquires-zagat/>