The biggest tech takeovers of 2015 – and how they will change the world

Is 2016 the year that Google or Facebook buy Spotify, Snapchat, Dropbox or Netflix? Probably not – the price tags would be astronomical – but it's the kind of thing that the internet behemoths do.

Want to create a new department for virtual reality? Buy a company. What about a new mobile section? Go shopping. With low interest rates throughout 2015, we've seen a year of mergers and acquisitions in the tech world that will shape what's to come in 2016.

So without further ado, here's our list of the biggest tech takeovers which happened this year, and the impact they're likely to have.