New York – NEW YORK — Berkery Noyes, a leading middle market investment bank, has released its 2010 Half Year Online M&A Trends Report. This report analyzes merger and acquisition activity in the Online Industry in the first half of 2010 and compares it with activity in the four previous sixth month periods from 2008-2009.

While multiples have decreased from 2.1 in 2nd Half 2009 to 1.8 to 1st Half 2010, the sector nonetheless saw strong growth, as evidenced by a 31% increase in volume, exceeding the total volume of each of the four preceding sixth month periods.

The segment with the largest increase was E-Marketing & Search, with a 40 percent increase from 80 transactions in 2nd Half 2009 to 112 transactions in 1st Half 2010. The segment with the largest decrease was E-Content which fell 60 percent, from $2.22 billion in 2nd Half 2009 to $886 million in 1st Half 2010.

Of the top ten deals, five occurred within the E-Commerce segment. Both Strategic and Financially-backed buyers appear motivated to secure a presence within a segment that has grown 61% from 2nd Half 2008.

Google, Inc. was the most active buyer within the online Industry, with ten transactions. Two of the companies acquired by Google, Inc. where founded by former Google employees (Aardvark, reMail) while another acquisition, Picnik, Inc., employed a CEO who had already sold his company, Phatbits, to Google.