The above are spot on. However, acquisitions are not always so rational. The other reason is hype. If you're in the hot area of today (cloud, location-based

The above are spot on. However, acquisitions are not always so rational. The other reason is hype. If you're in the hot area of today (cloud, location-based whatever, social gaming, photo sharing) and a corporation is hearing a lot about this, even if they don't know what it's all about, their desire to be part of this "thing that will be big" can motivate them and cause them to pay more than it may be worth.