4. Nest Labs: $3.2 billion, 100% ownership since 2014
Speaking of smart home devices, the company baked up its first Google Assistant devices from scratch. The resulting Google Home system could control Nest thermostats and smoke alarms as early as 2011, but Google wanted more control over its partner. So, Google boosted its stake in Nest Labs from 12% to 100% in a multibillion-dollar cash deal.
5. Fitbit: $2.1 billion, 100% ownership since 2021
Nest and Fitbit represent the majority of Alphabet's non-Google business these days. Both operations were brought in as fully realized product lines and established development teams. Alphabet is happy to spend billions of dollars on these solid businesses, especially since their presence can elevate the company's smart hardware and related services on a larger scale. Fitbit and Nest are great examples of these tactics, giving Alphabet an instantly competitive presence in the Internet of Things markets it had largely left alone.
6. Wiz: $32 billion, announced in March 2025
Google has acquired at least a dozen cybersecurity companies over time, but the Wiz acquisition announced in 2025 casts a deep shadow over the smaller deals. It's the largest buyout in Alphabet's history.
This deal, pending at the time of writing in April 2025, addresses a rising need for advanced cybersecurity solutions. AI is becoming increasingly powerful, and widespread cloud adoption is creating new security challenges for organizations.
Wiz developed a practical platform that connects to major cloud providers and helps protect all types of organizations against cyber threats. Google plans to combine its in-house AI expertise with Wiz's technology to create more automated security systems that work efficiently across different cloud environments.
The move positions Alphabet to protect its own vast data ecosystem, and also makes it a leading provider of cross-platform security solutions in an increasingly multicloud world.
7. Motorola Mobility: $12.5 billion, 100% ownership in 2011, sold to Lenovo in 2014
Here's the one that got away.
The $12.5 billion Motorola Mobility deal was Google's largest buyout at the time, meant to give the company a powerful phone brand that could compete directly with Apple's iPhone line. However, Google's Motorola phones never rose to the challenge, and Alphabet sold most of it to Chinese technology giant Lenovo (OTC:LNVG.Y) three years later. That deal excluded "the vast majority" of Motorola's mobile patent portfolio, so Alphabet still holds some small part of Motorola. Lenovo paid only $2.9 billion for the smartphone business and its supporting assets.
So, Alphabet went back to the lab again, working up a new mobile hardware strategy. Two years later, the first Google Pixel phones appeared, developed by Alphabet but manufactured by various third-party hardware partners.
