This is (sort of) a misunderstanding of how most buyouts work. Google, were they to "acquire" facebook for $6B would almost certainly structure it as a stock-sw

This is (sort of) a misunderstanding of how most buyouts work. Google, were they to "acquire" facebook for $6B would almost certainly structure it as a stock-swap merger. This way the acquisition isn't a taxable event, and they can use stock instead of cash. At GOOG's current market cap, $6B of dilution would be pretty minimal. Not mention the $10B of cash equivalents (and growing, fast) on their balance sheet to buyback stock or even do a full cash deal if they were feeling crazy.