Contact: Brenon Daly
Spending on tech M&A in the just-completed month of October slumped to the third-lowest monthly tally of the year, amid concerns about the growth prospects across the globe as well as specific questions about the stability of Europe. The total value of deals in the past month hit just $10.7bn, trailing only the totals for September ($8.5bn) and February ($10.3bn). Spending for the month of October hasn’t been this low since 2004.
The main reason for the rather anemic spending level in the past month is the absence of significant transactions. October’s priciest deal (Oracle’s $1.5bn all-cash purchase of RightNow Technologies) doesn’t even land in the top 25 largest acquisitions announced so far this year. We would add that the small amount of M&A spending came despite a stunning 11% gain on the Nasdaq index in October. Of course, that equity market surge has to be considered in context: The index has only returned to the level where it started the year, and is still below the level where it started August.