Steve Ballmer Says Microsoft Will Buy 20 Web Companies A Year
Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer announced that his company is planning to buy 20 web companies a year over the next five years.
Even if this assertion is hyperbolic, it shows that industry giants such as Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google are fueling up, beefing up, and counter-moving one another by gobbling smaller, nimbler, and more innovative tech companies.
In a way, the relative path to riches and fortune for your average young tech genius in the proverbial garage is easier than it was 10 years ago, and perhaps ever before. Instead of the daunting task of assembling VC millions and climbing the mountain to a successful IPO, it’s now possible to slave away in your parent’s basement or dorm room for a year years on limited or zero funding with the hope of getting gobbled up for a few quick millions by one of the titans.
Further, for the right kind of tech entrepreneur, that’s a much more interesting prospect than bothering to go to college or start out as a cubicle slave at a starting wage at a much larger company. And in fact starting your own company and then getting bought out by a larger one can often be a way to accelerate way up the food chain.
In short, this is a good thing for everyone. The big question and hope is that the big companies do something interesting with both the technology and employees that they gobble up.
