Notable mergers and acquisitions moves in 2022
Deals include Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter and Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard
Sen. Tom Cotton grilled CEOs on "woke" policies during a hearing on a potential merger between the Kroger and Albertsons grocery chains
Sen. Ton Cotton, R-Arkansas, noted the irony of companies that he said discriminate against conservatives that run to the GOP to protect them from regulation.
Another year of deal-making is coming to a close.
Globally, merger and acquisition (M&A) activity has seen a slowdown this year compared to 2021, with the total value of deals, at $2.7 trillion, being down "around one-third on last year" by the third quarter's end, Refinitiv reported in October. In the U.S., there was $1.2 trillion worth of M&A activity in the first nine months, marking a 40% drop, according to the financial market data company.
With 2023 rapidly approaching, FOX Business takes a look at some of 2022's notable M&A activity.
Twitter owner Elon Musk (Getty Images/iStock / Getty Images)
In April, Twitter and Elon Musk announced they had reached a $44 billion deal for the billionaire to buy and take the social media platform private. Musk’s takeover, which took place in late October following a months-long legal battle, has come with layoffs of half Twitter’s workforce and major changes to the platform itself, including to certain policies and the verification system.
Kroger/Albertsons
The two grocery store chains first said in October that they had reached a $24.6 billion merger agreement in which Kroger would acquire Albertsons. Some lawmakers and other elected officials have expressed concerns about the merger potentially having negative impacts on sector competition, grocery prices and jobs, things that Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen and Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran pushed back on in a Senate subcommittee hearing last month, the Wall Street Journal reported.
KROGER, ALBERTSONS TO MERGE IN $24.6B DEAL
Oracle/Cerner
Oracle completed its purchase of Cerner for $28.3 billion in early June, more than five months after announcing in December 2021 that it had reached an agreement with the medical record technology provider to do so. While reporting its quarterly financial results earlier this month, the tech giant said Cerner brought in $1.5 billion of its total revenues, which came in at $12.3 billion for the second quarter of fiscal 2023.
Microsoft/Activision Blizzard
Microsoft’s $68.7 billion proposed acquisition of "Call of Duty" video game publisher Activision Blizzard has faced government scrutiny, including from U.S. and European Union regulators. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration / Reuters)
Microsoft’s $68.7 billion proposed acquisition of "Call of Duty" video game publisher Activision Blizzard has faced government scrutiny, including from U.S. and European Union regulators. In an effort to block the deal, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Dec. 8 filed a lawsuit, alleging it could negatively impact other gaming competitors. Meanwhile, the March 23 deadline for the European Commission to make its decision on the purchase continues to approach.
JetBlue/Spirit
A JetBlue airliner lands past a Spirit Airlines jet at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on April 25, 2022. (Joe Cavaretta/Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images/File / Getty Images)
JetBlue Airways’ agreement to acquire fellow low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines, announced in late July, has been valued at $3.8 billion. The day prior to reaching that deal, Spirit had ended a merger agreement it had with another airline, Frontier. The Spirit acquisition is expected to close in 2024 and bring JetBlue’s fleet of aircraft up to 458 on a pro forma basis.
CVS Health/Signify Health
A CVS Pharmacy is shown in Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 2. (AP/Gene J. Puskar / AP Images)
UnitedHealth, Amazon and Option Care Health reportedly placed bids in an attempt to buy home health care company Signify Health. However, CVS Health ultimately landed the $8 billion deal to acquire Signify and its network of more than10,000 clinicians across the country in September.
Broadcom/VMware
Broadcom, a U.S.-based semiconductor maker, announced in May that it had plans to buy cloud service company VMware for about $61 billion. In November, shareholders of VMware approved the purchase.
Adobe/Figma
Adobe’s roughly half-cash, half-stock $20 billion deal to acquire web-first collaborative design platform Figma is expected to close in the coming year, provided that it receives necessary approval from regulators and meets other closing conditions, Adobe said in mid-September. Figma’s platform will see Adobe’s "imaging, photography, illustration, video 3D and font technology" incorporated, Figma CEO Dylan Field wrote at the time.
Amazon/One Medical
In July, Amazon announced it had entered an agreement to purchase One Medical. (KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
In July, Amazon announced that it had entered an agreement to purchase One Medical, a primary care provider that offers both in-person and remote options, for roughly $3.9 billion, including debt. With the proposed acquisition, the ecommerce giant is seeking to add another health care asset after having purchased online pharmacy PillPack in 2018.
FTC WANTS MORE INFORMATION ON AMAZON'S ONE MEDICAL PURCHASE
Prologis/Duke Realty
Industrial real estate company Prologis completed its $26 billion merger with fellow real estate investment trust Duke Realty in early October. The portfolio Prologis acquired through the deal included 142 million square feet of "fully operational logistics buildings," 17 million square feet of developable land and 7 million square feet of in-progress buildings, according to a press release.
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