In addition to these, other acquisitions such as Qualcomm’s planned purchase of Autotalks and Microsoft’s funding of OpenAI are also under the radar of U.S. and European regulators. This increased antitrust enforcement has contributed to a slowdown in technology M&A activity, with acquisitions of venture-backed startups hitting an eight-year low last year. Other factors include increased cash expense and plummeting startup valuations from 2021 highs.
Key takeaways:
- Several large technology acquisitions, including Amazon's planned purchase of iRobot and Adobe's planned purchase of Figma, have been terminated due to regulatory pushback from European and U.K. antitrust regulators.
- More than $70 billion worth of planned acquisitions by American technology companies have not come to fruition due to scrutiny and objections from EU and U.K. antitrust authorities.
- Regulatory pushback is not only from European and U.K. authorities, but also from U.S. authorities, as seen in the Nvidia-Arm merger case.
- Expectations of increased antitrust enforcement have likely contributed to a slowdown in technology M&A activity in recent quarters, with acquisitions of venture-backed startups hitting an eight-year low last year.