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A heavy focus on ecosystem development and, increasingly, on overseas expansion has fueled aggressive M&A strategies among China’s dominant Internet companies: Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and Qihoo 360 (collectively, "BATQ"). BATQ acquisitions previously comprised mainly Internet and mobile service firms, but more recently have expanded in scope to include areas such as offline retail, logistics, hardware, financial services, TV and film production, property management, and sports teams. The BATQ M&A race is rapidly changing the competitive positioning of each of the acquiring companies, and is also providing many target companies a lucrative, early exit option compared to the longer time frame and less certain prospects of an IPO.

To help investors and tech industry enterprises better understand what acquisitions each of the BATQ firms has made over the last 11 quarters, how these deals fit in to each acquirer's ecosystem strategy and improve its overall competitiveness, and what firms, based on the remaining holes in each Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and Qihoo's respective ecosystems, are most likely to be the target of future acquisitions, Marbridge has developed the Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and Qihoo M&A Matrix.

The Q4 2014 edition of the Matrix covers all major confirmed and rumored BATQ acquisitions (both minority and majority stakes) revealed over the 11-quarter period ending December 31, 2014, as well as a selection of particularly significant M&A deals preceding that period, in Excel (read-only) format. For each firm acquired, the Matrix provides the following information:

• Company Name
• Sector
• Business Scope
• Country (if not mainland China)
• Ticker Symbol (if applicable)
• Stake Acquired (where known)
• Acquisition Price (where known)
• Date of Acquisition / Rumor of Acquisition
• Type of Investment (e.g. pre-IPO Funding, JV, Post-IPO Stake)
• Reference Article in Marbridge Daily

The Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and Qihoo M&A Matrix covers the following number of deals (multiple investments in the same target company are detailed separately, but here counted as a single deal):

• Baidu: ~40
• Alibaba: ~70
• Tencent: ~85
• Qihoo 360: ~40

Major M&A deals executed by formerly independent subsidiaries, such as Baidu's iQiyi or Qunar, are also included in the Matrix.