After pushing M&A spending to a 15-year high last year, a record number of tech acquirers have indicated that they will be stepping out of the market in 2016. For the first time in the four-year history of the M&A Leaders’ Survey from 451 Research and Morrison & Foerster, the number of respondents forecasting an uptick in acquisition activity only slightly exceeded the number saying they would be cutting back on their shopping. That’s a significant deterioration in M&A sentiment compared with past surveys, which, on average, have seen more than four times as many respondents project an increase than a decrease.
In our late-April survey, fully one-third (33%) of respondents said they would be slowing their acquisition activity over the next six months, compared with just 38% who reported that they would be accelerating their M&A program. Taken together, the responses mark the most bearish tone ever from our respondents, who represent many of the most well-known buyers in the tech industry as well as their advisers. In our previous surveys, the average forecast has been overwhelming bullish, with more than half of respondents (55%) anticipating an acceleration in activity and only 13% saying the opposite. (Subscribers to 451 Research can see our full analysis of the M&A Leaders’ Survey.)
