2015 Key Highlights

  • Five of the top ten largest transactions in 2015 occurred during the fourth quarter. These five deals, with a combined value of $22.79 billion, accounted for 15 percent of the industry’s aggregate value.
  • There were 374 financially sponsored transactions with an aggregate value of $28.33 billion, representing 13 percent of the total volume and 17 percent of the total value, respectively.

2015 Key Trends

  • Total transaction volume in 2015 increased by 12 percent over 2014, from 2,493 to 2,798.
  • Total transaction value in 2015 rose by 19 percent over 2014, from $131.16 billion to $156.49 billion.
  • The median revenue multiple decreased from 2.4x in 2014 to 2.2x in 2015. The median EBITDA multiple declined from 13.1x in 2014 to 10.0x in 2015. However, the median value continued its upward trajectory.
  • The segment with the largest rise in volume in 2015 over 2014 was SaaS & Cloud with a 21 percent increase, from 658 to 798 transactions.
  • In terms of value, the E-Commerce segment’s largest acquirer in 2015 was online travel company Expedia with a combined total of $4.94 billion paid in transaction value. This consisted of HomeAway, Inc. for $3.24 billion, Orbitz Worldwide for $1.42 billion, and Travelocity.com Inc. for $280 million.

M&A Market Overview

Berkery Noyes tracked 7,500 Online & Mobile transactions between 2013 and 2015, of which 1,601 disclosed financial terms, and calculated the aggregate value to be $248.69 billion. Based on known transaction values, we project values of 5,899 undisclosed transactions to be $103.40 billion, totaling $352.09 billion worth of transactions tracked over the past three years.

Disclosed median enterprise value multiples for all segments combined in this report during the last 36 months were 2.3x revenue and 11.8x EBITDA.