PwC: Media Merger Activity Quiets Down in First Quarter

By Jon Lafayette
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

After a busy year in 2018, merger and acquisition activity in the media and telecommunications sector was quiet in the first quarter, according to a report by PwC.

Deals worth $6.7 billion were announced during the quarter, down 82% in the first quarter.

The volume of deals was down 36%, with just 155 transactions agreed to, a two year low.

“Despite this being a relatively quiet quarter from an M&A perspective, make no mistake that established media companies are aggressively planning their next moves while emerging companies are hard at work finding their place in the ever evolving value chain,” said Bart Spiegel, U.S. technology, media & telecommunications deals partner at PwC.

In the quarter, there were no megadeals, which PwC defines as transactions valued at more than $5 billion.

The biggest deal in the quarter was Nexstar’s sale of TV stations to Tegna and E.W. Scripps for a total of $1.25 billion.

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.