Executive Summary/Highlights

• Global M&A volume for 2025 was US$4.6 trillion, 45% higher than 2024 (US$3.2 trillion).  Fourth quarter 2025 was the busiest since Q4 2021 with $1.7 trillion in deals announced, including Netflix’s US$99 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (also the largest deal of 2025), Kimberly-Clark’s US$51 billion acquisition of Kenvue Inc. and the US$40 billion acquisition of Aligned Data Centers by the Artificial Intelligence Partnership, BlackRock and MGX.
• The second half of 2025 featured US$1.3 trillion in deals valued over US$5 billion, the highest of any two consecutive quarters since 2015.  This included nineteen transactions valued over $20 billion; by contrast, there were just six such transactions in the entirety of 2024 and eight in 2023.  Deals valued over $1 billion accounted for 77% of global M&A volume in the fourth quarter.
• The United States accounted for the bulk of M&A activity in 2025.  Over 50% of global M&A by value involved a U.S. target, compared to the ten-year average of 44%, and nine of the ten largest deals this year involved a U.S. target or a U.S. acquirer.
• Cross-border deals totalled US$1.4 trillion for the year or 30% of global deal volume, slightly below the ten-year averages in both cases (US$1.6 trillion and 34%).  Cross-border deals involving emerging economies totalled US$290 billion, a rebound from the lows of 2023 and 2024 (US$253 billion and US$202 billion) but below the ten-year average of US$348 billion.  The largest cross-border deal of the year was the US$49 billion acquisition of United States-based Electronic Arts by an investor group led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
• Technology was the leading industry sector in 2025, accounting for US$842 billion or 18% of global M&A volume, followed by Industrials (US$619 billion) and Financials (US$615 billion).  The sectors with the highest proportions of cross-border M&A volume during 2025 were Consumer Staples (50%), Materials (45%) and Retail (43%).

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