Which companies are the biggest spenders in tech acquisitions? Here's a look at significant tech acquisitions through the years and how those purchases affected business.

Of the big companies, "Google spends big in acquisition, paying $7.36 billion for 'property and equipment' and $1.45 billion for 'intangibles and other assets' in 2013, plus other big purchases before that," states Finances Online in the following infographic.

To date, Google's likely best deal was with Android. "Android is now the leading mobile OS worldwide, plus it gives Google about a billion dollars in mobile ad revenues," reports Finances Online.

By comparison, Microsoft appears to be "the confused buyer." It experienced success with acquisitions of DOS, MS Dynamics, PowerPoint, and Visio, but then experienced flops and mixed results with its other purchases.