Global business is an ever-evolving landscape, and mergers and acquisitions are a very common form of strategy for companies looking to grow and diversify. In 2023 alone, the total sum of M&A deals reached $2.3 trillion USD. A total of 8,934 deals have been announced as of June 2023, and the number is expected to go over 10,000 by the year’s end.
Take this related story, for example, that talks about one of the largest private healthcare mergers in Indian history.
In this article, we’ll go over the largest mergers and acquisitions to take place in history.
- Vodafone and Mannesmann – $202.8 Billion
In 1999, the world’s largest merger or acquisition in history took place, as Vodafone would acquire Mannesman. The deal is estimated to have been worth $202.8 Billion USD, which made it the largest merger and acquisition deal at the time, and it has remained at the top spot ever since.
For some information about the two companies involved in this acquisition, we will go over some facts of both Vodafone and Mannesmann.
Vodafone was founded just 31 years ago in Newbury, England. The company owns and operates networks in 21 countries, and has partner networks in 48 other countries. Additionally, they provide telecommunications and IT services to clients in 150 countries.
Mannesmann was the company acquired by Vodafone, and was a German industrial conglomerate. It was originally founded as a steel pipe manufacturing company in 1890. Mannesmann would diversify, and when its success in the area of telecommunications started in the 90’s, it became the target of a takeover by Vodafone. At the time of the takeover, Mannesmann had over 130,000 employees.
- AOL and Time Warner – $182 Billion
Just one year after the largest acquisition in history, the largest merger would be agreed upon by both AOL and Time Warner. For better or for worse though the deal would ultimately fall apart, 9 years after the signing of the merger.
AOL was founded as Control Video Corporation in 1983, and Time Warner was founded in 1990 after a successful merger between Time Inc. and Warner Communications. Time Warner would remain the name until it was acquired by AT&T officially in 2017 after winning a lawsuit against the U.S. Justice Department that was attempting to block the acquisition.
Ultimately, the deal between AOL and Time Warner fell apart in 2009 when AOL refused to redistribute Time Warner content. If you want to learn more information about why the largest merger in history failed, then check out this article from Rebellionresearch.
- Gaz de France and Suez – $182 Billion
This merger almost failed similarly to the last one, however, it was saved by the President of France in 2007 when he stepped in personally to ensure the merger would go through.
Both Gaz De France and Suez are French companies, though Suez has an older and much more interesting history than Gaz De France. The Suez Company was originally founded in 1858, and was responsible for the operation of the Suez Canal – which the construction was led by the same person who founded the Suez Company – Ferdinand de Lesseps.
Gaz de France was founded in 1946 by the French Government after the end of World War II. Before the merger, the French Government-owned 80% of the company, and today owns 35% of the merged company.
The two companies would successfully merge on July 22nd, 2008 when they formed the multinational utility company, Engie. Today, it provides electricity to 27 European countries and 48 countries across the world.
Thanks for reading this article. We hope you found the top three largest mergers and acquisitions interesting.