M&A deal value in TMT sector slumps 31% in 2022

The mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deal value in the global Tech, Media, and Telecom (TMT) sector totalled $754 billion in 2022, down 31% from 2021. The number of M&A deals in the sector also dropped sharply by 39% in 2022 as climbing inflation raised concerns over economic slowdown, reveals GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s latest report, ‘Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) in Tech, Media, and Telecom (TMT) 2022 Themes’, notes that a total of 612 M&A deals with a transaction value greater than or equal to $50 million were announced in the global TMT sector in 2022.

Priya Toppo, Thematic Intelligence Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “For M&A activity in TMT over the past five years, deal activity peaked in Q3 2021 with 283 deals, marking the highest quarterly deal count. While the highest quarterly deal value was recorded in Q4 2020 with deals worth $331 billion.”

The US accounted for 69% of total TMT deal value in 2022 and saw $510 billion worth of M&A deals. Europe ranked second, with a total of 163 M&A deals worth $136 billion. APAC (excluding China) saw 94 deals with a total value of $46 billion, while China recorded 47 deals worth a total of $17 billion.

The two biggest deals in the US were Broadcom’s acquisition of all the outstanding shares of VMware for $69 billion and the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft for $69 billion. Europe witnessed several consolidation deals in the telecom sector, the biggest one being Orange Espana’s merger with MasMovil for $19 billion.

Toppo concludes: “In 2022, the software and services sector generated a deal value of $431 billion, or 58% of the overall deal value; and a deal volume of 292, or 48% of total deal volume. The hardware sector recorded the second-highest deal value, registering 138 M&A deals worth $134 billion. The internet and media sector recorded the third-highest deal value, with 136 M&A deals worth $127 billion. Telecom services generated 7% of the total 2022 deal value with just 46 deals worth a total of $54 billion.” BCS Bureau