Relaxed regulation and abundant capital spawned a big year of mergers and acquisitions! Goldman Sachs (GS.US) holds the top position in the world with a strong $1.48 trillion deal in 2025

The Zhitong Finance App learned that in 2025, in the context of a market where political games are heating up and the scale of mergers and acquisitions continues to rise, Goldman Sachs (GS.US) once again dominates the global M&A transaction rankings, leading the list with a significant market share advantage.

According to LSEG data, the explosive growth of $10 billion mergers and acquisitions was a key driver for Goldman Sachs to win the championship. In 2025, the world reached a total of 68 $10 billion deals, with a total scale of 1.5 trillion US dollars, more than double the previous year. Goldman Sachs participated in 38 of these deals, involving a total transaction volume of $1.48 trillion. In terms of number of transactions, this was the most active period for huge transactions since LSEG began recording in 1980.

Stephan Feldgoise, Co-Head of Global M&A at Goldman Sachs, told clients in the “2026 Global M&A Outlook” report that 2025 can be called a “big year of mergers and acquisitions”, and the active trading market is driven by “abundant market capital.”

Goldman Sachs is at the top of the list in terms of two core indicators: M&A advisory fee revenue and total transaction size, and market share in both areas has grown. According to LSEG data, Goldman Sachs received US$4.6 billion in M&A advisory fees in 2025, far exceeding other investment banks; JPMorgan Chase (JPM.US) followed with US$3.1 billion, while Morgan Stanley (MS.US), Citigroup (C.US), and Evercore (EVR.US) ranked third to fifth with US$3 billion, US$2 billion, and US$1.7 billion respectively.

Judging from the ranking of total transactions handled, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley took the top three, followed by Bank of America (BAC.US) and Citigroup.

Among mergers and acquisitions covering Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), Goldman Sachs's market share reached 44.7% in 2025, second only to the record high in history set in 1999.

The technology industry was the main force in M&A transactions in 2025, and the relaxation of regulatory scrutiny cleared the barriers to large-scale mergers and acquisitions across the industry. The loose anti-monopoly policy implemented by US President Trump during his administration greatly boosted the confidence of giants in various industries, and large-scale mergers and acquisitions in the fields of railways, consumer goods, media, and technology were successfully implemented.

Although Goldman Sachs dominates the global market with a total transaction share of $1.48 trillion, it unfortunately missed out on two of the biggest mergers and acquisitions of the year: one was the acquisition of Norfolk Southern (NSC.US) by Union Pacific (UNP.US) for $88.2 billion, and the other was a fierce bidding war for Warner Bros. Exploration (WBD.US). The list of advisors for these two supermergers and acquisitions includes Bank of America, Barclays Bank (BCS.US), Wells Fargo (WFC.US), and a number of boutique investment banks.

Anu Ayiengar, head of global investment banking and M&A business at J.P. Morgan Chase, said in an interview: “The company's demand for expansion and scale up is unprecedented, which has prompted the board of directors and senior management to take the initiative. Today, companies are no longer waiting for target companies to be listed and sold, but instead take the initiative to initiate mergers and acquisitions.”

J.P. Morgan Chase was the lead underwriter of the Warner Bros. sale and led the way for Kimberly (KMB.US) to acquire Tyno's parent company Kenvue (KVUE.US) for $50.6 billion. These two deals are also J.P. Morgan's biggest handwriting in 2025. If income from investment banking businesses such as stock underwriting and bond issuance is included in the statistics, J.P. Morgan Chase used the total revenue of global investment banks of 10.1 billion US dollars to reverse the 8.9 billion US dollars of ultra-high profits, making it the investment bank with the highest annual revenue in the world.

The bid battle between Paramount (PSKY.US) and Netflix (NFLX.US) against Warner Bros. became the focus of the year's M&A market — the former quoted $108 billion, followed by the latter reporting $99 billion (all including debt). Not only did Wells Fargo, Moelis & Co. Investment banks such as (MC.US) and Allen & Co. have also helped law firms such as Latham & Watkins greatly improve their industry rankings. Among them, Wells Fargo soared 8 places from 2024 by participating in 10 $10 billion transactions, including the Netflix bid, to rank 9th in the world.

Boutique investment bank Moelis, which also participated in Netflix's bid consultancy work, jumped 3 places to finish in 2025 with the 16th place in the world. The company participated in 5 mergers and acquisitions over $5 billion throughout the year, including the $20 billion sale of Essential Utilities (WTRG.US).

The final seat in the investment bank ranking will probably depend on the final outcome of the Warner Bros. bid. LSEG pointed out that the current financial advisors of both bidders are included in the rankings, but once Warner Bros. determines the final acquirer, the rankings will be reshuffled. Notably, RedBird Capital Partners and M. Klein & Co. are two organizations that did not make the top 120 in the world last year. By providing consulting services to Paramount, they quickly broke into the top 25 in the world in 2025.

LSEG emphasized that the jump in the rankings of these two boutique investment banks is entirely dependent on the Warner Bros. bid. However, according to people familiar with the matter, the Warner Bros. board of directors is currently inclined to veto Paramount's latest offer. According to LSEG data, if Paramount finally withdraws the purchase offer, Wells Fargo's ranking is expected to rise two more places, while the ranking of Paramount's M&A advisory team will face a decline.

As LSEG's No. 1 M&A legal advisor in the world in 2025, Charles Ruck, chairman of global corporate business at Latham & Watkins, attributed the surge in large transactions to the “spread of scale.” He pointed out that in 2025, the S&P 500 index rose 16.39%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 20.36%. Higher asset prices directly boosted the overall valuation of M&A transactions. The landmark deals Latham & Watkins participated in in 2025 include Paramount's takeover offer for Warner Bros., the $55 billion EA.US leveraged takeover, and the $40 billion sale of the Aligned Data Centers data center. Ruck determined that the current market environment is more favorable to enterprise consolidation.

In an interview, he said, “There are sufficient reserve projects for mergers and acquisitions, and all macro indicators are sending positive signals. “Declining interest rates have reduced transaction costs for private equity clients and helped them achieve their target returns; cash reserves on US corporate balance sheets are abundant; the IPO market has failed to recover as expected, making mergers and acquisitions an important channel for companies to withdraw from investment; and the current relatively relaxed regulatory environment, these factors together determine the winners and losers in the M&A market.”