Google wanted to buy Snapchat last year because of course it did

Google being as large of a company as it is means the company has plenty of cash lying around. $30 billion of that cash was reportedly meant to buy Snap, the company behind Snapchat, but it denied Google of that desire in 2016.

The $30 billion deal, which Business Insider alleges was an “open secret” among insiders and some of Snap’s own senior executives. These talks would have likely taken place in May 2016, when Snap raised its Series F round of private funding. Funny enough, one firm that quietly took part in that round of funding was CapitalG, an Alphabet-managed late stage investment firm.

Talks of a buyout were reportedly brought up again in March of this year, when Snap made its initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange. It is unknown whether these talks turned into anything serious, since the report mentions that such informal talks frequently happen during funding rounds and IPOs.

We should also mention that the rumor mill has a habit of spitting out similar stories in the past. From Spotify and Dropcam, to SoundCloud and Twitch, Google has been rumored to have at least thought about purchasing many companies. That is not to say such reports are false, but it seems that Google wanting to buy Snapchat might not be entirely surprising.

One of the more intriguing takeaways from the report, however, is the rumored deal itself. The $30 billion buyout would value Snapchat at twice what the company is currently worth, with the offer reportedly still “on the table since the IPO.”

Of course, the deal could also be off the table or not have existed at all – Snap denied rumors of a Google buyout, while the search giant did not respond to a request for comment. Even so, given Google’s presence in the advertisement market, as well as Snap’s volatile stock, it might be a deal that makes sense for both companies.