Alphabet (GOOGL), the parent company of Google, has spoken to its advisers about possibly making an offer to acquire online marketing software company HubSpot, according to Reuters.
Alphabet met with Morgan Stanley investment bankers on the potential deal, including how much it should offer and whether it would face scrutiny from antitrust regulators, Reuters said, citing people familiar with the matter. No offer has been submitted and there's no certainty that one will be made, the report added.
HubSpot currently commands a market capitalization of about $35 billion, which is well within Alphabet's budget as it ended its most recent quarter with approximately $110.9 billion in cash and cash equivalents. Prior to the news of the potential offer, HubSpot's market cap stood at about $32 billion.
The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently finalized new antitrust guidelines, the first update since 2010. The new guidelines are expected to have a chilling effect on mergers and acquisitions or, at the very least, expand the transactions subject to regulatory enforcement, as Kiplinger previously reported.
Google has faced its fair share of antitrust scrutiny in the past. In January 2023, the Justice Department sued Google for "monopolizing multiple digital advertising technology products." The Justice Department also sued "monopolist Google" in 2020 "to stop Google from unlawfully maintaining monopolies through anticompetitive and exclusionary practices in the search and search advertising markets."
In Thursday's trading session, HUBS stock was last seen up 8% on the news while GOOGL shares were down 0.3%.
Google weighs AI paywall option
Prior to the buzz of the potential bid for HubSpot, Google was in the news for considering charging for certain premium features powered by generative artificial intelligence (AI), the Financial Times (FT) reported.
The proposed paywall would be centered around adding certain AI-powered search features to its premium subscription services, the FT said, citing three people with knowledge of the plans.
If this were to happen, it would mark the first time Google has put any of its core product offerings behind a paywall, the FT said.
