List of the largest corporate acquisitions

The following list provides an overview of the largest company acquisitions and takeovers of all time according to their transaction value (purchase price). Prices are given in nominal US dollars at the time and in today's inflation-adjusted US dollars to ensure better comparability over long periods of time. The largest company takeover to date was the purchase of the German industrial group Mannesmann by the British mobile operator Vodafone in 1999. The purchase price was around 190 billion euros (then 202 billion US dollars or 292 billion US dollars in today's prices). The transaction costs do not include possible debts of the companies taken over.

1870s

The largest corporate takeovers by transaction volume from 1870 to 1879:

rank	year	Buyers	Bought	Transaction volume (in billion USD)	Adjusted for inflation (in USD billion 2017)
1	1879	Pacific Coast Oil Company	Star Oil	0.001	0.024

1900s

The largest corporate takeovers by transaction volume from 1900 to 1909:

rank	year	Buyers	Bought	Transaction volume (in billion USD)	Adjusted for inflation (in USD billion 2017)
1	1901	United States Steel Corporation	Carnegie Steel Company	0.492	15th
2	1900	Standard Oil	Pacific Coast Oil Company	0.001	0.026

1940s

The largest corporate takeovers by transaction volume from 1940 to 1949:

rank	year	Buyers	Bought	Transaction volume (in billion USD)	Adjusted for inflation (in USD billion 2017)
1	1948	Burlington Mills	May McEwen Kaiser	0.014	0.140
2	1947	Zinc Corporation	Smelting Corporation	0.013	0.146
3	1948	National Distilled Products	Blum Philip & Co	0.013	0.130

1960s

The largest corporate takeovers by transaction volume from 1960 to 1969:

rank	year	Buyers	Bought	Transaction volume (in billion USD)	Adjusted for inflation (in USD billion 2017)
1	1969	Xerox Corporation	Science Data Systems	0.910	6th
2	1968	Sun Oil	Sunray DX Oil Co.	0.840	6th
3	1966	Atlantic Refining	Richfield Oil	0.535	4th
4th	1968	Kennecott Copper	Peabody Coal Corporation	0.475	3
5	1968	Occidental Petroleum	Hooker Chemical	0.483	4th
6th	1968	Loews Theaters	Lorillard P Corporation	0.450	3
7th	1968	Ling Tehco Vought	Jones and Laughlin Steel Company	0.425	3
8th	1968	Glen Alden Corporation	Schenley Industries	0.421	3
9	1968	Singer Corporation	General Precision Equipment Corporation	0.404	3
10	1968	Montgomery Ward	Container Corporation of America	0.300	2
11	1968	Northwest Industries	Philadelphia & Reading	0.300	2

1970s

The largest corporate takeovers by transaction volume from 1970 to 1979:

rank	year	Buyers	Bought	Transaction volume (in billion USD)	Adjusted for inflation (in USD billion 2017)
1	1977	Atlantic Richfield Company	Anaconda Copper	0.784	3
2	1978	John's Manville	Olinkraft Inc.	0.585	2
3	1977	Kennecott Copper	Carborundum Corporation	0.567	2
4th	1978	Philip Morris	Seven-Up Bottling Co	0.520	2
5	1972	Colgate Palmolive	Kendall Co	0.514	3
6th	1978	Beatrice Foods Co	Tropicana Products	0.490	2
7th	1974	International Paper	General Crude Oil	0.486	2
8th	1978	Unilever	National Starch & Chemical	0.485	2
9	1974	Burmah Oil	Signal Oil & Gas	0.480	2
10	1970	Warner-Lambert	Parke-Davis	0.413	3

1980s

The largest corporate takeovers by transaction volume from 1980 to 1989:

rank	year	Buyers	Bought	Transaction volume (in billion USD)	Adjusted for inflation (in USD billion 2017)
1	1989	Kohlberg Kravis Roberts	RJR Nabisco	31	64
2	1984	Standard Oil of California	Gulf Oil	13.2	32
3	1988	Philip Morris	Kraft Foods	13.1	28
4th	1987	BP	Standard Oil of Ohio	7.8	18th
5	1981	Du Pont	Conoco	7.3	20th
6th	1986	Kohlberg Kravis Roberts	Beatrice Cos.	6.2	13
7th	1984	Mobile	Superior Oil Co.	5.7	14th
8th	1985	RJ Reynolds Industries	Nabisco Brands	4.9	12
9	1986	Burroughs Corporation	Sperry Corporation	4.8	11
10	1986	Kohlberg Kravis Roberts	Safeway Stores	4.3	10
11	1982	Occidental Petroleum Corporation	Cities Service Company	4th	10

1990s

The largest corporate takeovers by transaction volume from 1990 to 1999:

rank	year	Buyers	Bought	Transaction volume (in billion USD)	Adjusted for inflation (in billion USD 2016)
1	1999	Vodafone Group	Mannesmann	202	309
2	1999	Pfizer	Warner-Lambert	111.8	171
3	1998	Exxon	Mobile	77.2	121
4th	1998	Citicorp	Travelers Group	73	114
5	1999	SBC Communications	Ameritech Corporation	63	96
6th	1999	Vodafone Group	AirTouch Communications	60	92
7th	1998	Bell Atlantic	GTE	53.4	84
8th	1998	BP	Amoco	53	83
9	1999	Qwest Communications	US WEST	48	74
10	1997	Worldcom	MCI Communications	42	67

2000s

The largest corporate takeovers by transaction volume from 2000 to 2010:

rank	year	Buyers	Bought	Transaction volume (in billion USD)	Adjusted for inflation (in billion USD 2016)
1	2000	AOL Inc.	Time Warner	165	244
2	2007	RFS Holdings BV	ABN Amro BV	98	121
3	2000	Glaxo Wellcome Plc.	SmithKline Beecham Plc.	76	113
4th	2004	Royal Dutch Petroleum	Shell Transport & Trading Co.	75	101
5	2006	AT&T Inc.	BellSouth Corporation	73	92
6th	2001	Comcast	AT&T Broadband	72	104
7th	2009	Pfizer Inc.	Wyeth	68	81
8th	2002	Pfizer Inc.	Pharmacia Corporation	60	84
9	2004	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	Bank One Corporation	59	79
10	2008	InBev Inc.	Anheuser-Busch Inc.	52	62

2010s

Largest corporate takeovers by transaction volume (greater than $ 20 billion) from 2011 to 2020:

rank	year	Buyers	Bought	Transaction volume (in billion USD)	Adjusted for inflation (in 2019 USD billion)	source
1	2013	Verizon Communications	Verizon Wireless	130	153
2	2015	Dow Chemical	DuPont	130	146
3	2015	Anheuser-Busch InBev	SAB Miller	107	122
4th	2015	Heinz	force	100	114
5	2018	AT&T Inc.	WarnerMedia	85.4	95
6th	2016	Linde AG	Praxair	85	90
7th	2015	Charter Communications	Time Warner Cable	78.7	85
8th	2019	Bristol-Myers Squibb	Celgene	74	74
9	2018	The Walt Disney Company	21st Century Fox	71.3	73
10	2015	Actavis	Allergan, Inc	70.5	76
11	2015	Royal Dutch Shell	BG Group	70	75
12	2017	CVS Health	Aetna	70	73
13	2015	Dell	EMC Corporation	67	72
14th	2019	Saudi Aramco	Saudi Basic Industries Corporation	69	69
15th	2018	Takeda Pharmaceutical	Shire plc	62	63
16	2017	Essilor	Luxottica	58.5	61
17th	2016	Bayer AG	Monsanto	54.5	58
18th	2018	CIGNA	Express Scripts	53	54
19th	2015	British American Tobacco	RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company	49.4	51
20th	2015	AT&T Inc.	DirecTV	49	53
21st	2016	ChemChina	Syngenta	43	46
22nd	2015	Medtronic	Covidien	42.3	46
23	2015	Teva Pharmaceutical Industries	Actavis Generics	40.5	44
24	2018	Comcast Corporation	Sky plc	39	40
25th	2018	E.ON SE	Innogy SE	38.5	39
26th	2015	Berkshire Hathaway	Precision cast parts	37.2	40
27	2018	IBM	Red hat	33.4	35
28	2016	Shire plc	Baxalta	32	34
29	2016	Softbank	ARM Holdings	32	34
30th	2017	United Technologies	Rockwell Collins	30th	32
31	2012	T-Mobile US	MetroPCS	29	32
32	2013	Berkshire Hathaway 3G Capital	Heinz	28	31
33	2016	Microsoft	LinkedIn	26.2	28
34	2018	T-Mobile US	Sprint Corporation	26th	26th
35	2016	Abbott Laboratories	St Jude Medical	25th	27
36	2017	Agrium	Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Inc	25th	26th
37	2016	Century Link	Level 3 Communications	24	26th
38	2018	Marathon Petroleum Corp.	Andeavor	23	23
39	2016	Johnson Controls	Tyco International	22nd	23
40	2018	Atlantia Grupo ACS	Abertis	22nd	22nd
41	2018	Vodafone Group	Liberty Global (Germany and Eastern Europe)	21.8	22nd
42	2013	Softbank	Sprint Corporation	21.6	24
43	2018	Keurig Green Mountain	Dr Pepper Snapple Group	21st	21st

Top 10 of all time

rank	year	Buyers	Bought	Transaction volume (in billion USD)
1	1999	Vodafone Group	Mannesmann	202
2	2000	AOL Inc.	Time Warner	165
3	2013	Verizon Communications	Verizon Wireless	130
3	2015	Dow Chemical	DuPont	130
5	1999	Pfizer	Warner-Lambert	111.8
6th	2015	Anheuser-Busch InBev	SAB Miller	100
6th	2015	Heinz	force	100
8th	2007	RFS Holdings BV	ABN Amro BV	98
9	2018	AT&T Inc.	WarnerMedia	85.4
10	2016	Linde AG	Praxair	85

Top 10 of all time (adjusted for inflation)

rank	year	Buyers	Bought	Adjusted for inflation (in billions of USD 2016/17)
1	1999	Vodafone Group	Mannesmann	291
2	2000	AOL Inc.	Time Warner	230
3	1999	Pfizer	Warner-Lambert	161
4th	2013	Verizon Communications	Verizon Wireless	134
5	2015	Dow Chemical	DuPont	132
6th	1998	Exxon	Mobile	114
7th	2007	RFS Holdings BV	ABN Amro BV	113
8th	2015	Anheuser-Busch InBev	SAB Miller	108
9	1998	Citicorp	Travelers Group	107
10	2000	Glaxo Wellcome Plc.	SmithKline Beecham Plc.	106

Top 10 with German participation

rank	year	Buyers	Bought	Transaction volume (in billion USD)
1	1999	Vodafone Group	Mannesmann	202
2	2016	Linde AG	Praxair	85
3	2016	Bayer AG	Monsanto	54.5
4th	1998	Daimler-Benz AG	Chrysler	40.5
5	2018	E.ON SE	Innogy SE	38.5
6th	1999	Mannesmann	Orange (UK)	32.6
7th	2000	Deutsche Telekom	VoiceStream Wireless	29.4
8th	1999	Rhône-Poulenc	Hoechst AG	21.9
9	2006	Bayer AG	Schering AG	21.4
100	2001	Allianz SE	Dresdner Bank	19.7

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} US Inflation Calculator ( en-US )
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w} Report on mergers (PDF)
3. ↑ METAL MERGER PLANNED Zinc Corp. Offer To Imperial Smelting . April 9, 1948.
4. ↑ Justin Walton: 10 Most Famous Leveraged Buyouts . November 10, 2015.
5. ↑ FTC Approves Chevron Gulf deal . October 25, 1984. Retrieved November 22, 2017. 
6. ^ BP to acquire the rest of Standard Oil . In: Chemical & Engineering News Archive . 65, No. 13, March 30, 1987. doi : 10.1021 / cen-v065n013.p005a . Retrieved November 22, 2017.
7. ↑ Du Pont to swallow Conoco in record-breaking merger . July 7, 1981. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
8. ↑ Mark Potts: Mobil Agrees To Buy Superior For $ 5.7 Billion . March 12, 1984. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
9. ↑ CITIES SERVICE AGREES TO OCCIDENTAL'S BID IN $ 4 BILLION MERGER . August 26, 1982. Retrieved November 22, 2017. 
10. ↑ ^{a b} M&A Statistics - Worldwide, Regions, Industries & Countries (en-US) . In: IMAA institutes . 
11. ^ Mannesmann to accept bid - February 3, 2000 . In: CNN , February 3, 2000. 
12. ^ Pfizer and Warner-Lambert agree to $ 90 billion merger creating the world's fastest-growing major pharmaceutical company . Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
13. ^ Exxon, Mobil mate for $ 80B - December 1, 1998 . In: CNN , December 1, 1998. 
14. ↑ FINANCE: EXXON-MOBIL MERGER COULD POISON THE WELL . Retrieved August 28, 2015.
15. ↑ Fool.com: Bell Atlantic and GTE Agree to Merge (Feature) July 28 1998 . Archived from the original on September 19, 2015. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 28, 2015. 
16. ↑ Archived copy . Archived from the original on July 28, 2012. Retrieved on July 28, 2012.
17. ↑ Online NewsHour: AOL / Time Warner Merger . Retrieved November 22, 2017.
18. ↑ AOL and Time Warner to merge - January 10, 2000 . In: CNN , January 10, 2000. 
19. ↑ AT&T To Buy BellSouth For $ 67 Trillion . In: CBS News , March 5, 2006. 
20. ↑ AT&T Press Release Headlines & News from AT&T . Retrieved August 28, 2015.
21. ^ JP Morgan to buy Bank One for $ 58 billion . In: CNNMoney.com , Jan 15, 2004. 
22. ↑ Vodafone sells Verizon stake for $ 130bn . 2. September 2013.
23. ^ Dow Chemical, DuPont reach deal on merger . In: USA TODAY . December 11, 2015.
24. ↑ Heinz to merge with Kraft to create US food giant . In: Telegraph.co.uk . March 25, 2015.
25. ^ AT&T to Acquire Time Warner - AT&T .
26. ↑ Reuters Editorial: Linde passes important 50 percent threshold in Praxair tender . Retrieved November 22, 2017.
27. ↑ EX-99.1 .
28. ↑ 2019 Begins With a $ 74 Billion Bang as BMS Buys Celgene. Retrieved May 25, 2019 (American English). 
29. ^ The Walt Disney Company Signs Amended Acquisition Agreement To Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., For $ 71.3 Billion In Cash And Stock - The Walt Disney Company . 20th June 2018.
30. ↑ Munsif Vengattil: Disney hikes bid for Fox assets to $ 71.3 trillion, tops Comcast .
31. ↑ Javier Blas and Rakteem Katakey: Shell Will Buy BG Group for $ 70 Billion in Cash, Shares . In: Bloomberg.com . April 8, 2015.
32. ↑ Guy Chazan, David Oakley, Claer Barrett: Shell's £ 47bn swoop on BG Group opens way to wave of energy deals . April 8, 2015.
33. ^ Carl O'Donnell and Greg Roumeliotis: CVS, Aetna aim to finalize deal as early as December: sources . Retrieved November 22, 2017.
34. ^ Ankur Banerjee: CVS deal for Aetna could help retailer face Amazon entry: analysts . Retrieved November 22, 2017.
35. ↑ Ben Hirschler: Japan's Takeda clinches £ 45.3 trillion Shire deal as pharma M & A ... .
36. ↑ Reuters Editorial: EU clears merger of Essilor, Luxottica without conditions .
37. ↑ Ludwig Burger: Bayer cuts Monsanto deal value to $ 63.5 billion on revised debt .
38. ↑ Bayer sells assets for $ 7 billion ahead of Monsanto deal .
39. ↑ CNBC: Deals and IPOs .
40. ↑ Allergan Accelerates Transformation to Branded Growth Pharma Leader by Divesting Global Generics Business to Teva for $ 40.5 Billion . In: Allergan . July 27, 2015. Retrieved November 27, 2015.
41. ↑ Cynthia Koons: Teva CEO: $ 40.5 Billion Allergan Deal is Just the Beginning . In: Bloomberg LP , July 27, 2015. Retrieved November 27, 2015. 
42. ↑ Chitra Somayaji: Teva Snaps Up Allergan's Generics Arm, Dumping Mylan . In: Bloomberg LP , July 27, 2015. Retrieved November 27, 2015. 
43. ^ Paul Sandle: Comcast raises bid for Sky to $ 34 billion, tops Fox's offer .
44. ↑ Ben Martin: Comcast outbids Fox with 30.6 billion pounds winning offer for Sky .
45. ^ Greg Roumeliotis: Global mergers and acquisitions reach record high in first quarter .
46. ↑ Katherine Chiglinsky, Sonali Basak: Buffett to Acquire Precision Castparts in $ 37.2 Billion Deal . Bloomberg LP. August 10, 2015. Accessed March 23, 2018.
47. ↑ https://www.businessinsider.com/ibm-is-reportedly-nearing-a-deal-to-acquire-redhat-the-software-company-valued-at-20-billion-2018-10
48. ↑ M&A Deals Reach Record Levels .
49. ↑ Reuters Editorial: Factbox - A few facts about the nerve agent Novichok .
50. ↑ Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn | News Center .
51. ↑ Greg Roumeliotis: T-Mobile, Sprint say $ 26 trillion deal would give US tech lead ... .
52. ↑ John Benny: Marathon to become top US refiner with $ 23 bln Andeavor buy .
53. ↑ Francesca Landini: Italy's Atlantia joins ACS trillion to end $ 22 battle for Spain's ... .
54. ^ Paul Sandle: Vodafone challenges Deutsche Telekom with a $ 21.8 billion Liberty deal .

1. ↑ Verizon acquired a 45% stake in Verizon Wireless, which was owned by Vodafone, for $ 130 billion. The deal was closed on February 21, 2014, making it the third largest acquisition ever completed. Verizon Communications is now the sole property of Verizon Wireless
2. ↑ 51/49% merger with Kraft, shareholders received a special dividend of USD 16.50
3. ↑ Not yet confirmed
4. ↑ $ 49.4 billion for 57.8%
5. ↑ $ 67.1 billion in debt assumed
6. ↑ 40.5 billion = $ 33.75 billion in cash + $ 6.75 billion in shares