2017 Key Highlights

  • The largest mobile-based transaction during the year was United Luck Consortium’s $1 billion acquisition of Outfit7, a media franchise with various mobile applications, which have received more than 5 billion downloads.
  • Four of the industry’s top ten largest deals in 2017 occurred in the E-Content segment: KKR’s Internet Brands’ announced acquisition of WebMD Corporation for $2.8 billion; The Walt Disney Company’s announced acquisition of a majority stake in BAMTech for $1.58 billion; Red Ventures’ announced acquisition of Bankrate for $1.44 billion; and Happigo’s announced acquisition of Mango TV for $1.43 billion.
  • There were 496 financially sponsored transactions with an aggregate value of $31.41 billion, representing 17 percent of the total volume and 30 percent of the total value, respectively.

2017 Key Trends

  • Total transaction volume in 2017 declined by two percent over 2016, from 2,915 to 2,870.
  • Strategic volume in 2017 decreased five percent over 2016, from 2,498 to 2,374. Private equity backed volume increased 19 percent during this timeframe, from 417 to 496.
  • Total transaction value in 2017 fell by 41 percent over 2016, from $178.88 billion to $104.67 billion. This followed a 13 percent rise from 2015 to 2016.
  • The median revenue multiple moved downward from 2.3x in 2016 to 2.0x in 2017. The median EBITDA shifted slightly from 11.4x in 2016 to 11.6x in 2017.

M&A Market Overview

Berkery Noyes tracked 8,641 Online & Mobile transactions between 2015 and 2017, of which 1,885 disclosed financial terms, and calculated the aggregate value to be $326.76 billion. Based on known transaction values, we project values of 6,756 undisclosed transactions to be $115.94 billion, totaling $442.70 billion worth of transactions tracked over the past three years.

Disclosed median enterprise value multiples for all segments combined in this report during the last 36 months were 2.1x revenue and 11.1x EBITDA.