What can we learn from Facebook about M&A?

For many people, Facebook is synonymous with pet pictures, status updates and birthday greetings, but are you aware that you can learn a lot about strategic growth and M&A by studying the company itself?

In its 12 or so years of existence, Facebook has acquired more than 60 companies. The best known of these are the image sharing platform Instagram (acquired for USD 1 billion in 2012) and the WhatsApp messaging service (acquired for USD 19 billion in 2014). With so many acquisitions on its CV, it’s safe to say that M&A is in the company’s DNA, and that there is a lot to learn from the mergers & acquisitions strategy of Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.