Back in May I predicted that high stock market valuations and low interest rates would lead to a huge wave of merger and acquisition activity and to be honest it sort of didn’t happen.
But in the past month, Sprint decided it wants to buy T-Mobile, Fiat bought Chrysler, Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank have been circling each other, Facebook bought Branch, Google is buying Nest, Charter is bidding for Time Warner Cable, Suntory is buying Jim Beam, and I’m sure I’m forgetting more significant deals.* Things are happening. If you’re inclined toward pessimism, call it a sign of a bubble. If you’re inclined toward optimism, call it a sign that business investment will be surging this year. Either way, things are happening.
Correction, Jan. 14, 2014: A previous version of this post misspelled Men’s Wearhouse.
