1ST HALF 2015 KEY HIGHLIGHTS

  • The most active acquirer year-to-date was Dentsu Inc. with nine deals: eCommera Ltd., Flexmedia Co., Ltd., John Brown Media, abaGada Internet Ltd., Forbes Consulting Group, Mindworks, Soap Creative, Belgiovane Williams Mackay and WATConsult.
  • The highest value transaction in 1st Half 2015 was Verizon Communications’ acquisition of AOL, Inc. for $4.13 billion.
  • There were 111 financially sponsored transactions with an aggregate value of $12.28 billion, representing 13 percent of the total volume and 30 percent of the total value, respectively.

1ST HALF 2015 KEY TRENDS

  • Total transaction volume in 1st Half 2015 saw a three percent uptick over 2nd Half 2014, from 841 to 863.
  • Total transaction value in 1st Half 2015 fell by 31 percent over 2nd Half 2014, from $52.72 billion to $36.48 billion.
  • 11 of the industry’s top ten highest value deals in 2nd Half 2014 reached the $1 billion threshold, as opposed to five in 1st Half 2015.
  • The median revenue multiple decreased from 2.1x in 2nd Half 2014 to 1.9x in 1st Half 2015. The median EBITDA multiple declined from 12.0x in 2nd Half 2014 to 8.7x in 1st Half 2015.
  • The segment with the largest rise in volume in 1st Half 2015 over 2nd Half 2014 was Internet Media with a 25 percent gain, from 208 to 259 transactions.

M&A Market Overview

Berkery Noyes tracked 4,273 Media & Marketing transactions between 2013 and 1st Half 2015, of which 920 disclosed financial terms, and calculated the aggregate transaction value to be $150.67 billion. Based on known transaction values, we project values of 3,353 undisclosed transactions to be $57.21 billion, totaling $207.88 billion worth of transactions tracked over the past two and a half years.

Disclosed median enterprise value multiples for all segments combined in this report during the last 30 months were 2.0x revenue and 10.0x EBITDA.