ANALYSIS: How Frequent Are Mega Mega M&A Deals?

The year has just begun and it has already made an important mark on M&A. 2022 brings to an end the longest span of time between announcements of a mega mega deal—valued at $50 billion or higher—in the past decade.

Looking at the frequency of M&A mega deals since Jan. 1, 2012, we see that Tuesday’s announcement of Microsoft Corp.’s planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc. for $68.7 billion occurred more than two and a half years after the last announcement of a deal valued at $50 billion or higher: the $83.7 billion Allergan Ltd.–AbbVie Inc. deal in 2019. ...