One of Wall Street’s most consistent tendencies through the years has been for companies that have reached a certain size to buy other companies in an attempt to goose their growth. The old saying goes that when you can’t get better, you get bigger. It makes sense. Rapidly-growing companies can book impressive year-over-year numbers while they are still small, but it becomes increasingly difficult to post double-digit gains in sales and earnings once you’ve become a billion-dollar enterprise. Looking outside your own business to major competitors (i.e. buying growth through increased market share) or to companies that are related but tangential to one’s own (i.e. buying vendors, partners, customers, etc.) are the two most common ways in which this is done. » Read more: Google Has Grown Up With The Android Acquisition