NEW YORK—Media and telecom deals continued at an anemic pace at the end of 2022, with deal volume among U.S. and Canadian media and telecom companies declining 54.4% year over year in December to reach its lowest monthly total in 2022, according to a new data analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
The new S&P report found that there were only 88 deals struck in December, compared to 193 transactions during the same month in 2021. Total M&A deal volume was also down on a sequential basis, decreasing by 28.5 % from 123 transactions in November.
The size of the deals also remained small. None of the transactions announced in the sector during the last four months of 2022 crossed the $1 billion mark and rankings for the year's top 10 media and telecom deals by gross transaction value have remained unchanged since September.
Microsoft Corp.'s pending purchase of Activision Blizzard Inc. for $79.59 billion was the largest deal in 2022 for media and telecom companies.
