Companies announced a mammoth $5 trillion-plus of deals in 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, eclipsing the previous annual record set in 2007 by almost $1 trillion thanks to wave after wave of transformational M&A right up until the holidays.
Fueled by cheap money and a soaring stock market, companies struck deals to boost growth, acquire new capabilities or to simplify their corporate structures. In fact, every working day this year, a company has set a new takeover record for itself, like Oracle Corp.’s $28.3 billion takeover of Cerner Corp., its biggest deal ever. In many cases, investors have cheered companies on for pursuing deals.
The year saw iconic companies like Johnson & Johnson and General Electric Co. announce corporate breakups, a bidding war for railroad Kansas City Southern that ended in a $31 billion acquisition by Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. and the planned merger of AT&T Inc.’s media businesses with Discovery Inc.
Read more/Source: Yahoo Finance
