2012-01-11 Berkery Noyes Releases 2011 Year End Online & Mobile Industry Mergers And Acquisitions Report

Berkery Noyes, an independent middle market investment bank, today released its 2011 Full Year Mergers and Acquisitions Trend Report for the Online & Mobile Industry. The report analyzes the sector for 2011 and compares it with similar activity in 2009 and 2010.

Median revenue and EBITDA multiples increased from 2010 to 2011. The median revenue multiple went from 1.9x to 2.4x, a 26 percent rise, while the median EBITDA multiple increased from 11.4x to 12.5x. There were 1531 strategic transactions, an increase of 33 percent compared to 2010. Total volume in the Online & Mobile space increased 33 percent over 2010, from 1299 to 1723 transactions.

“M&A activity for social media and analytics companies continues to grow as a broader range of players seek to capitalize on this evolution in media and marketing communications,” said Kathleen Thomas, Managing Director at Berkery Noyes. “The world’s largest retailer, Walmart, entered the market in April with their $300 million acquisition of Kosmix Corporation, and Kosmix, now known as @WalmartLabs, has already completed four deals.”

@WalmartLabs, which is now the retailer’s digital technology division, has been building what they call “the future of commerce” through their “Social Genome,” a database combining billions of tweets, YouTube videos, Facebook messages and more. They claim this will assist shoppers with making decisions through “a broad array of social commerce applications” and ultimately help Walmart achieve greater margins and sales.

Total acquisitions involving social media and analytics companies rose 39% from 116 transactions in 2010 to 161 in 2011. The median revenue multiple for this sector between 2009 and 2011 was 5.5x.

A copy of the FULL YEAR 2011 ONLINE & MOBILE INDUSTRY M&A TREND REPORT is available at the Berkery Noyes website.