Q3 2020 Online & Mobile Industry Trends

Q3 2020 Key Highlights

The largest mobile related deal in Q3 2020 was Uber’s announced acquisition of Postmates, a food and goods delivery service, for $2.7 billion. Postmates is complementary to Uber Eats with differentiated geographic focus areas and customer demographics.

There were 456 financially sponsored transactions in the 1st 3 Quarters of 2020 with an aggregate value of $45.4 billion, representing 21 percent of the total volume and 32 percent of the total value, respectively.

Q3 2020 Key Trends

Total transaction volume in Q3 2020 improved by 23 percent over Q2 2020, from 635 to 778.

Total transaction value rose from $23.1 billion in Q2 2020 to $62.9 billion in Q3 2020. This was the industry’s peak for value on a quarterly basis year-to-date as well as its second highest value level throughout the past seven quarters.

Multiples & Value Trends

The median revenue multiple from 2019 through the 1st 3 Quarters of 2020 declined by 15 percent, from 2.7x to 2.3x.

The median EBITDA multiple from 2019 through the 1st 3 Quarters of 2020 decreased by ten percent, from 14.1x to 12.7x. This was in line with its 2018 level.

Top Ten Deals Through Q3 2020

The top ten deals by value have seen five new additions since our half year report, two of which were completed by financial sponsors: Blackstone Group’s announced acquisition of Ancestry.com for $4.7 billion and DCP Capital Partners’ announced acquisition of 51job for $3.8 billion.

These five transactions, with an aggregate value of $31.3 billion, represented 22 percent of transaction value in the 1st 3 Quarters of 2020 and 50 percent of Q3 2020 transaction value.