#7 Navision

Purchased for: $1.45 billion

Date: July 11, 2002

After purchasing Great Plains Software, which developed mid-market business accounting software, Microsoft bought Navision A/S, which made the similar product, but had higher penetration in European markets. The two acquisitions are to solidify Microsoft’s business management software.

Both were bundled into Microsoft Dynamics, with Navision and Great Plains becoming two of its four software arms in the sector. While Microsoft did gain a valuable collection of offerings in the quickly growing enterprise software market, it had hedged close to $3 billion on its potential to snatch the lead away from competitors like SAP, Salesforce, and Oracle. Ultimately, it failed.

Verdict: Miss.

6 Rare

Purchased for: $375 million

Date: September 24, 2002

Rare was a British video game developer. During its early years, Rare primarily concentrated on Nintendo Entertainment System games, creating successful titles such as Wizards & Warriors, Battletoads, and R.C. Pro-Am. The company achieved critical acclaim and commercial success with their subsequent releases, which included Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct, GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and Star Fox Adventures.

In September 24, 2002, the company was wholly purchased by Microsoft and has since focused on developing games exclusively for Microsoft video game consoles. Rare was a somewhat puzzling purchase by Microsoft, which at the time had just made the risky foray into console gaming with the original Xbox the year prior.

After some of Rare's sequels to its legacy brands failed to move units, it began to look like another useless multi-hundred-million dollar video game expenditure. To the rescue was the Kinect motion controller in 2010. Rare was repurposed to focus on the Kinect, developing the commercially successful Kinect Sports.

Verdict: Hit.

Read Also: 8 Tycoons Who Won't Leave A Penny To Their Kids and Top 10 Banned Apps On BYOD Devices