Mergers & acquisition activity recovered and then some in 2025, as the number of deals valued at $10B or more hit a new high.
For the year, so far, there were a record 68 deals each valued at over $10B announced globally, according to LSEG data. That resulted in $1.48T of such megadeals in 2025, up 151% by total value from 35 deals valued at $592B in 2024. Only 2015 had a higher total value at $1.50T.
In the U.S., 40 deals exceeded that threshold, up 54% Y/Y, with the total value rising 116% to $1.02B, the highest since at least 2000, according to the LSEG data.
Among the biggest mergers and acquisition announced were Netflix’s (NFLX) $72B agreement to buy Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), Union Pacific’s (UNP) deal to buy Norfolk Southern (NSC) for $72B, and Electronic Arts’ (EA) announced sale to a group led by private equity firms for $55B.
In addition, amid a more business-friendly Trump administration, optimism has increased for a revival of bank mergers after Capital One Financial (COF) acquired Discover Financial (DFS) for $35B in stock (which was originally announced in February 2024) in May 2025. In October, Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) agreed to acquire Comerica (CMA) in an all-stock deal valued at $10.9B at the time of the announcement.
The jump in deals is good news for banks, who get hefty fees for advising prospective buyers and targets. “I think that we are going to see a very constructive M&A environment through the end of the year into 2026,” said David Solomon, CEO and chairman of Goldman Sachs (GS), which is the No. 1 M&A advisor globally.
The bank is “well positioned to capitalize on the upswing in investment banking activity, which we expect the next 12 to 24 months,” Goldman Chief Financial Officer Denis Coleman said.
With deal activity ramping up, banks and law firms are bolstering their ranks to handle the increased deal flow, the Wall Street Journal reported. Those include such banks as Wells Fargo (WFC) and Lazard (LAZ) and law firms Paul Weiss and Kirkland & Ellis. In October, Lazard said it hired 20 new managing directors this year to support its M&A practice.
The increase in M&A also portends a revival of the IPO market, according to Morgan Stanley (MS). “The entire proposition of mid- to large- to mega cap M&A has been one that has not been on the table for a long time,” Chairman and CEO Ted Pick said during the company’s Q3 earnings call. “If there is going to be large cap M&A across growth industries around the world, there will also be an IPO market as they work symbiotically in terms of attracting growth capital to grow the winners.”
Investors have taken note of the pickup in activity. The KBW Nasdaq Bank Index has climbed 30% this year, outpacing the S&P 500’s 17% increase during the same period.