Google Continues Search for New Acquisitions in Asia

Search giant Google

continues to search for new companies to purchase around the world, with a new emphasis on Southeast Asia, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. “We'll continue to innovate ourselves, but where it makes sense, we will look out for opportunities,” Julian Persaud, managing director for Google in Southeast Asia, told the news service. Google is famous for its rapid pace of acquisitions, which now stands above 100. Among its most famous purchases are Android, YouTube, and just recently, Motorola Mobility. “We have proven recently as a company, that we are prepared to make acquisitions, wherever it makes sense,” Persaud told Bloomberg. “It wouldn't make sense to exclude a part of the world, and say we wouldn't look there.” Recent trends in Google's products indicate that the company wants to move into emerging spaces like mobile and social services. The company hopes to piggy back its brand name in other areas of opportunity. According to the Bloomberg report, "Google, owner of the world's most-popular search engine, is stepping up expansion in countries including Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, where companies allocate a smaller proportion of their advertising spending online compared with the U.S. and Europe. Tencent, China's biggest Internet company by revenue, and LivingSocial, the second-biggest coupon site, have unveiled investments in Southeast Asian Web firms in the past two years." Between the recent release of Google+, its new social service, and the appointment of new CEO Larry Page, Google has undertaken several measures to maintain a competitive edge in Silicon Valley.