(Bloomberg) – PayPal Holdings Inc.’s potential takeover of social media company Pinterest Inc. would top the list of what is already a record year for tech deals and boost the industry’s M&A volume by above $ 1 trillion for the first time.
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The online payments provider is discussing the acquisition of Pinterest worth about $ 45 billion, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday. That figure becomes the largest acquisition in the technology sector this year, beating Square Inc.’s proposal to acquire the “buy now, pay later” company Afterpay Ltd. for $ 29 billion and Microsoft Corp.’s agreement for the pioneer. of speech recognition Nuance Communications Inc. for $ 20 billion.
Tech companies have announced $ 971 billion in mergers and acquisitions this year, double the number in the same period in 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It is by far the busiest year on record, thanks to a series of ambitious deals, including Intuit Inc.’s purchase of email marketing company Mailchimp for $ 12 billion and the acquisition by from rival Avast Plc’s cybersecurity company NortonLifeLock Inc. for up to US $ 8.6 billion.
Pinterest investors welcomed the news of PayPal’s interest, sending the company’s shares up 13% on Wednesday. On Thursday, the stock erased part of the gains, to fall in New York trading.
In recent months, a number of tech company executives have been preparing the biggest acquisitions in their history, emboldened by rising stock valuations and easy credit conditions. However, his enthusiasm could run into trouble in a context in which US regulators are increasingly assertive.
The new chairwoman of the US Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan, has vowed to restore the agency’s power to take on the dominant companies that thwart competition. Specifically, it has drawn attention to the technology sector, where it is scrutinizing privacy practices and cracking down on deals that remain off the radar. Khan’s aggressive stance has spooked some in the market as traders are wary that major deals can be made.
These concerns have not yet slowed the pace of the deals. This year, a new billion-dollar tech deal has been announced roughly every other day, according to Bloomberg data.
Nota Original:Pinterest Deal to Top Charts in Tech’s $1 Trillion M&A Year (1)
