North American M&A dropped 23% in the third quarter to $560 billion, driven by fragile AI sentiment and higher borrowing costs. The quarter saw just six megadeals ($10B+), down from 19 in Q2. Despite the slowdown, global M&A volumes rose 27% to $4.44 trillion in the first nine months, second only to 2021’s post-Covid surge.
Technology led with $1.1 trillion in volume, up 36%, while healthcare deal-making jumped 54% due to biotech rebound. Only one AI-related deal occurred in Q3: Nvidia’s $12.9B acquisition of Hugging Face. Megadeals now make up 35% of global volume, reflecting a K-shaped market where large firms absorb higher costs.
PwC’s Brian Levy and Mergermarket’s Lucinda Guthrie noted scale and resilience as key drivers amid geopolitical and macro challenges. Global volumes are up nearly $1 trillion vs. 2025, fueled by fewer but larger deals.
Source: Wall Street Journal US Business · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing