TechCrunch
David Gelles wrote in the New York Times this weekend about how large tech corporations have been conducting more M&A deals with less input from traditional investment banks. Because of my company’s insight into buy and sell-side M&A interest, I wanted to provide some additional insight into how we see the M&A world changing.
But first, a little history to explain this evolution: Investment banking is a 300-year-old industry; the first transaction on record was the British East Indies Trading Company merging with its largest competitor in 1708. Since that day, investment banking has been entirely conducted under human power. These people are arbiters of information, connecting people within a particular sector of expertise or geography.
In an analog world, this worked, as finding the most strategically relevant business has been difficult. But we’re in the digital age. Businesses can achieve awareness and distribution far easier than in the past, enabling strategic acquirers to identify them earlier, without the need for human subject-matter experts.
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