Contact: Brenon Daly
Despite all the ‘fire and fury’ around President Donald Trump, when it comes to tech deals, the president is good for business. At least that’s the view of a majority of buyers at some of the largest and most-active companies in the market.
By a more than two-to-one margin, respondents to the 451 Research Tech Corporate Development Outlook Survey said the Trump White House will help spur M&A in 2018. Specifically, 59% said the current administration will ‘stimulate’ dealmaking this year, compared with just 23% saying it will ‘inhibit’ dealmaking.
Somewhat surprisingly, the nearly six out of 10 respondents who forecast a ‘Trump bump’ in the tech M&A market is 10 percentage points higher than our previous survey. The increase over the past year in Trump’s standing among dealmakers stands in sharp contrast to the president’s overall popularity, which has dropped to record lows over that same time. Since Trump took over as CEO of America, the percentage of people who disapprove of the president has steadily risen from 41% to 55%, according to Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight, which calculates the figure based on a weighted blend of numerous polls.
Even with the divergent views about the White House, corporate acquirers mostly told us the overall economic picture isn’t really snagging deals these days. See the full 451 Research Tech Corporate Development Outlook Survey for more insights from many of the main buyers in the tech M&A market.