#ma

#ma

The Covid-19 pandemic spurred a rapid expansion of health tech companies, and new market realities post pandemic meant it was only a matter of time before some consolidated. Indeed, investors in recent years predicted greater M&A activity only to never see it materialize either in 2024 or 2025. But 2026 may be the year the predictions do come true. Consider the deals announced in just over a month:

The bullish forecast hinges on AT&T's infrastructure push, anchored by two major deals - a nearly US$6-billion purchase of Lumen's consumer fibre business and a US$23-billion acquisition of EchoStar's spectrum licenses. The deals are expected to close early this year and help AT&T lure customers from rivals with faster internet speeds and improved mobile coverage, capitalizing on demand for broadband as remote work, streaming and connected devices drive data consumption higher.

"M&A is high on the agenda," said Sharon Marcil, North America chair at BCG. "We're hearing it from so many CEOs."

Liftoff provides a software development kit that app developers install in their apps in order to sell advertising, and a product for advertisers that uses machine learning to help them target high-quality mobile users. It grew revenue by 30% year over year to $491 million in the nine months that ended September 30. The company reported $263.3 million in adjusted earnings - a 54% margin - and a net loss of $25.6 million in that period.

Invitation Homes' $89 million acquisition of ResiBuilt one of homebuilding mergers and acquisitions' 2026 table-setters is a small deal that can change the rules of engagement and shift the balance of competitive power for two adjacent ecosystems. Here's the context: Single-family rental REITs, with an exception or two, have historically been buyers of homes. Single-family builders have historically been sellers of them.

This became one of the defining moments of my career, culminating in a $4.4 billion transaction to take SolarWinds private with Turn/River Capital. These negotiations exercised my leadership principles, sharpened my judgment under pressure, and expanded my experiences. Negotiations have always been a part of life. Whether it involves your teenager's curfew, your team's priorities, or your board and the future, every negotiation comes down to the same vital tenets: credibility, balance, stamina, and persistence.

The Wall Street bank on Wednesday announced the appointment of 184 new managing directors - a roughly 6% increase from last year's class of 173 MDs. At Morgan Stanley, managing director is the firm's highest designation. The announcement comes amid the annual promotion season on Wall Street and follows Goldman Sachs' November elevation of more than 600 managing directors, part of a biennial process at the rival firm.

Now, nearly four years later, the insect farming company has been placed into judicial liquidation - essentially bankruptcy - for insolvency. Ultimately, Ÿnsect failed to fulfill its ambition to "revolutionize the food chain" with insect-based protein. But don't be too quick to attribute its failure to the 'ick' factor that many Westerners feel about bugs. Human food was never its core focus.

Another holiday-shortened trading week begins today, and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF ( NYSEMKT: VOO) is feeling the Christmas spirit. The ETF opened up 0.6% Monday. Helping to fuel the rally is again Nvidia ( Nasdaq: NVDA), which plans to begin shipments of its H200 AI chip to China in February. Initial orders are said to total anywhere from 40,000 to 80,000 H200 chips.

Advertising giants like Publicis, WPP, and Omnicom aren't the only companies deploying roll-up strategies and shaking up influencer marketing. Humanz, an Israeli influencer marketing platform that expanded to the US in 2024, is going "full acquisition mode" through 2026, CEO Liran Liberman said in an interview. The company exclusively told Business Insider that it recently raised $15 million from an undisclosed group of venture capital investors to fuel several M&A deals.

As the AI trade gets overheated and calls for some sort of bursting of the AI bubble grow louder, it might make sense to look to opportunities to be had within other sectors. Undoubtedly, the AI-fuelled tech boom may very well continue for another year or more, as the firms strive to be among the first to achieve some form of artificial general intelligence (AGI). Still, there's no denying that the stakes are higher, along with valuations.

Banks need elite talent to tackle what's expected to be a busy 2026, forcing them to compete for top dealmakers amid one of the strongest M&A backdrops in years. The industry "will probably have the second biggest year in history," Goldman Sachs CFO Denis Coleman said on Tuesday at a financial industry conference hosted by the firm, noting that the bank has already advised on activity "north of a trillion dollars" this year.

I was asked about this in the wake of Salesforce's recently completed $8 billion acquisition of Informatica. In part, I believe that people are paying attention because deal-making is up in 2025. M&A volume reached $2.2 trillion in the first half of the year, a 27% increase compared to a year ago, according to JP Morgan. Notably, 72% of that volume involved deals greater than $1 billion.

ServiceNow confirms earlier reports in the media that it wanted to acquire Veza. Veza is an American specialist in identity security. ServiceNow has announced the proposed deal without disclosing any financial details. American media report that, according to sources, the value could exceed $1 billion. With this acquisition, ServiceNow is focusing explicitly on identity security, an area that cybersecurity experts say is playing an increasingly central role in data breaches.

One of the largest deals ever for a stablecoin startup has fallen through. Coinbase has called off acquisition talks with the U.K.-based BVNK, a spokesperson for the crypto exchange confirmed to Fortune. It wasn't immediately clear why Coinbase iced the deal, which had gotten as far as the due diligence process and seen the crypto giant and BVNK enter into exclusivity in October, meaning the startup couldn't entertain offers from other bidders.

As global connectivity gets more pervasive and vehicles become ever-more connected, the fleet management industry has entered a rapid phase of digitisation, and the marketplace in North America is set for a steady upturn over the course of the short-term future, driven by growth strategies based on M&A activity and high-paced organic growth, according to a study from Berg Insight.

In June, SAP made a $4.5 billion (€3.9 billion) bid for accounting platform BlackLine, but was rejected. The German software vendor may make a new bid. This is according to Reuters, based on sources. BlackLine provides cloud software that automates complex accounting processes for finance departments. The tools replace traditional spreadsheets and reduce errors. The company is of interest to SAP because of its existing collaboration. SAP sells BlackLine solutions to its customers, accounting for nearly 30 percent of BlackLine's annual revenue.

The $55 billion sale of Electronic Arts to Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and a group of other private equity investors is a big deal. Some people are going to make a lot of money off it. Others may lose their jobs when the interest bill for the debt-financed portion of the leveraged buyout comes due. CEO Andrew Wilson, who will remain in charge of the Madden and Battlefield publisher even after the sale closes, is thanking his employees.

But here's the nuance: It's not that you can't proactively sell your startup. It's that acquisitions driven by an acquirer's initial interest usually yield better outcomes, given your situation and the state of the market. Our process started with inbound interest from a few companies looking to buy Kraftful for strategic reasons. To ensure the best deal, I also connected directly with CEOs, CTOs, and chief product officers at 25+ companies, leading to serious conversations with more than 10 companies.

That's what we found when we met Wolt in 2021-a team with very shared values, which to me is probably the hardest thing to get right in M&A,

The company credits "powerful new tools and high-profile partnerships."

The legal industry experienced an unexpected increase in demand, primarily driven by litigation practices, while corporate practices in the Am Law 100 faced declines.

Choosing the right M&A company in Dubai shapes the success of mergers, acquisitions, or business sales, leveraging the city's financial sector and strategic location.