For mergers and acquisitions as a whole, 2014 was another record breaking year and Ciesco have reported an increase of 24% on 2013 within the technology enabled media and marketing sector. The total disclosed value of transactions was almost £77 billion, compared to just £16.5 billion in 2013.
This sharp increase on deal values can be, in part, attributed to two “mega-deals” – Comcast’s £30 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Facebook’s £14.5 billion acquisition of WhatsApp.
Below is a list of the top 20 deals of 2014 within the technology enabled media and marketing sector:
1. Comcast’s £30 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable
2. Facebook’s £14.5 billion acquisition of WhatsApp
3. Vista Equity Partners’ £2.85 billion acquisition of TIBCO Software
4. CVC Capital Partners / Leonard Green & Partners’ £2.85 billion acquisition of Advantage Sales & Marketing
5. Publicis Group’s £2.5 billion acquisition of Sapient
6. Priceline.com’s £1.7 billion acquisition of OpenTable
7. Alliance Data Systems’ £1.5 billion acquisition of Conversant
8. Facebook’s £1.3 billion acquisition of Oculus VR
9. Alibaba’s £1 billion acquisition of AutoNavi
10. Mail.ru’s £1 billion acquisition of VKontakte
11. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.’s £750 million acquisition of Internet Brands
12. UBM’s £660 million acquisition of Advanstar Communications
13. Rakuten’s £660 million acquisition of Ebates
14. Amazon’s £642 million acquisition of Twitch Interactive
15. News Corp’s £630 million acquisition of Move
16. Rakuten’s £610 million acquisition of Viber Media
17. Siris Capital Group’s £556 million acquisition of Digital River
18. Convergys’ £543 million acquisition of Stream Global Services
19. GTCR’s £540 million acquisition of Callcredit Information Group
20. CBS Outdoor Americas’ £456 million acquisition of Van Wagner Communications
