Facebook and Whatsapp

When: October

Why: The two companies share an aim of connectivity and communication. Whatsapp is to remain a stand-alone app, separate to Facebook. Whatsapp has extremely high growth and has more than 450 million active users every month, making it a very attractive company to Facebook.

Who: Whatsapp is a mobile messaging app available on Apple, Windows, Blackberry and Android phones

Cost: $22bn

Apple and Beats

When: August

Why: Beats is a company primarily concerned with music. Apple’s iTunes arm will benefit from the addition of Beats to their company. Apple is aiming to incorporate Beats in all of its future iPhones.

Who: Beats is a company that produces audio devices such as headphones and earbuds.

Cost: $3bn

Facebook and Oculus

When: July

Why: Mark Zuckerberg claims that his investment in Oculus is a long term bet on the future of social networking. But really, Zuckerberg is simply impressed by the Oculus Rift and eager to be a part of its success. He can afford it, so he thought why not?

Who: Oculus is a company developing a virtual reality headset. Its Rift product is backed by a kickstarter campaign and is due for commercial release in 2015.

Cost: $2bn

Yahoo and Flurry

When: July

Why: The acquisition of the company will help Yahoo to improve their ad services. The consumer app data they will gain will help them to target their ads more accurately.

Who: Flurry is a mobile data analytics app.