. Elon Musk acquired Twitter
On April 26, 2022, billionaire Elon Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion after Twitter’s Board of Directors agreed to the deal. Elon Musk has stated that his goal is to promote free speech on social networks and reform Twitter. However, later, Mr. Musk also promoted information that the deal could run into problems and even be canceled due to disagreements about the deal.
Elon Musk once announced that he wanted to buy Twitter to “save the world”, but he later abandoned this plan for reasons considered trivial. This deal has attracted global attention and brought many benefits to the companies that Elon Musk owns.
However, just after a period of acquiring Twitter, Elon Musk made a series of “reforms”:
* Fired many senior Twitter employees, including chief operating officer Jack Dorsey and chief financial officer Ned Segal.
* Strengthen content control on Twitter, remove fake accounts, scams and privacy violations.
* Introducing new features to attract users and increase revenue, such as allowing users to pay to view exclusive tweets from celebrities, or allowing users to send cryptocurrency to each other via Twitter .
* Changed Twitter’s logo from a blue bird to an X.
Elon Musk acquired Twitter
2. Facebook acquired Instagram
Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram is one of the most famous M&A transactions in technology history. Facebook spent $1 billion, including $300 million in cash and 23 million shares, to own this photo-sharing social network in 2012.
Facebook’s goal is to expand market share, block competitors, and leverage Instagram data and advertising. As a result, Instagram has become one of the largest platforms in the world with more than 1 billion users.
After carrying out the M&A deal, Facebook made many changes when acquiring Instagram:
* Increase Facebook’s intervention in Instagram’s product, strategy and revenue decisions. This has led to the departure of Instagram’s founders and senior leaders.
* Change Instagram’s interface to add Reels and Shop buttons, two features that Facebook wants to promote to compete with TikTok and Shopify.
* Add the Facebook name to Instagram’s logo to clarify the relationship between the two platforms.
* Adds a link feature between Instagram and Facebook, allowing users to share content, message, and view statuses across both apps.
* Added chronological streaming for Reels and Stories in Europe, to comply with the EU Digital Services Act. This is a big change from the previous algorithmically sorted stream.
Facebook acquired Instagram
3. Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment
In 2009, Walt Disney announced that it would acquire Marvel Entertainment, a leading global entertainment company, for $4 billion in cash and stock. This deal is one of the largest M&A deals in the entertainment industry.
The acquisition allows Disney to expand its content library by acquiring Marvel’s huge catalog of comic book characters such as Spiderman, Iron Man and The Avengers. These characters have proven to be extremely popular with fans across the globe, making the Marvel brand one of the most lucrative in the entertainment industry.
Disney also recognizes the potential for cross-selling opportunities between its existing properties and the Marvel brand. For example, Disney has been able to incorporate Marvel characters into its theme parks, which has attracted a new audience to the parks and merchandise.
Since the acquisition, Disney has produced many successful Marvel films such as “Avengers: Endgame”, which grossed more than $2.7 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of all time. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel Studios has earned more than $22 billion at the global box office since the acquisition.
Furthermore, the acquisition helped Disney diversify its revenue sources beyond traditional media networks, leading to increased profits and shareholder value.
Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment
4. Oracle acquired Cerner
Oracle’s acquisition of Cerner is a major M&A deal in the medical technology sector. Oracle is a software and cloud services company, and Cerner is a medical information systems company.
The two companies announced the deal on December 20, 2021, for $95 per Cerner share, or approximately $28.3 billion in capitalization. The transaction was completed on June 8, 2022, following regulatory and shareholder approvals.
Oracle’s goal is to expand its market share in the digital health sector and enhance its ability to provide cloud solutions to customers.
