2011 could become the busiest year for tech M&A in more than a decade, according to Thomson Reuters.
Global tech M&A currently stands at $125.7 billion for the year, including Google’s agreement to buy Motorola Mobility Solutions for $8.8 billion (Thomson Reuters does not include MMI’s $3.7 billion of cash-on-hand in its calculation). That’s the highest tally through August 15 of any year since 2007, when there was $134.7 billion of tech M&A. After that, you need to go back to $396.8 billion in the dotcom heyday of 2000.
With more than four months left to go and a number of undervalued tech companies floating on the Nasdaq, it’s not unreasonable to think that 2011 will end up setting this decade’s tech M&A benchmark.
Overall, worldwide M&A now stands at $1.8 trillion for the year, which is a 31% increase over last year’s figure on August 15. This includes nearly $84 billion of activity so far in August (last August, in total, was $231.3 billion). The aggregate value of deals for U.S.-based companies in 2011 currently stands at $775.4 billion, or a 76% jump from the 2010 tally at this date.