2010 Key Highlights

  • The largest transaction in 2010 was Intel Corporation’s announced acquisition of McAfee, Inc., for $7.55 billion.
  • Google, Inc. was the most active information industry acquirer by volume, with 25 acquisitions: Widevine Technologies, Inc., Phonetic Arts, BlindType Inc., Plannr, Quiksee, SocialDeck Inc., Ångströ Inc., Like.com, Jambool, Inc., Slide, Inc., Development Tools For Java & Ajax from Instantiations, Inc., Metaweb Technologies, Inc., ITA Software, Invite Media, Inc., Ruba, Inc., SimplifyMedia, Global IP Solutions, Bump Technologies Inc., LabPixies, Plink, Episodic Inc., DocVerse, reMail, Picnik, Inc. and Aardvark.
  • There were 277 financially sponsored transactions with an aggregate value of $26.06 billion, representing 14 percent of the total volume and 28 percent of the total value, respectively.

2010 Key Trends

  • Total transaction volume increased by 36 percent from 1505 in 2009 to 2046 in 2010.
  • Total transaction value in 2010 increased by 36 percent from $82.30 billion in 2009 to $112.09 billion in 2010.
  • The median EBITDA multiple, revenue multiple, and deal value have all made marked gains in 2010. The EBITDA median multiple rose 29 percent from 2009 to 2010.

M&A Market Overview

Berkery Noyes tracked 7265 transactions between 2007 and 2010 of which 2644 disclosed financial terms, and calculated the aggregate transaction value to be $458.61 billion. Based on known transaction values, we project values of 4621 undisclosed transactions to be $82.40 billion totaling $541.01 billion worth of transactions tracked over the past four years.

The largest transaction tracked by Berkery Noyes between 2007 and 2010 was Thomson Corporation’s merger with Reuters for $17.58 billion, completed in April of 2008.

The most active buyer by value in the information industry from 2007 to 2010 was Oracle Corporation, with an aggregate acquisition value of $20.48 billion.