Tech M&A: Noisy but Nominal

[Moritz Dispatch]

Scott Moritz
10/13/09 - 07:24 AM EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- This year is shaping up to be the biggest bust
for tech mergers in recent history.

Contrary to all the noise about big deals in tech, M&A activities
haven't just slowed, they've shrunk to a fraction of the historical
size. At the end of the third quarter, total tech deals this year
reached $92 billion in value, a 74% drop from the same period in 2007,
according to research firm The 451 Group.

The downshift isn't really all that surprising given how closely it
follows the economy's two-year slide. But recent "merger Monday"
headlines like Cisco's (CSCO Quote) $3.2 billion takeover of Tandberg,
Silver Lake's $2 billion offer for eBay's (EBAY Quote) Skype and
Adobe's (ADBE Quote)$1.8 billion shocker for Omniture (OMTR Quote)
show there's still some action in M&A.


Click here for more on the 2009 merger climate changes:
http://www.thestreet.com/story/10610296/1/remarkable-year-for-tech-ma.html