Why 2024 will be a year of fits and starts for dealmaking on Wall Street
CNN
Dealmaking is big business on Wall Street.
A version of this story first appeared in CNN Business’ Before the Bell newsletter. Not a subscriber? You can sign up right here. You can listen to an audio version of the newsletter by clicking the same link. Dealmaking is big business on Wall Street. When companies combine, or one company buys another, it creates opportunities for investors and banks to make money by providing advice or financing the transaction. Investors and employees often get a nice payout as well. But over the past few years, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), have been hard to come by. Goldman Sachs reported substantial drops in revenue last year as 2023 had some of the lowest M&A activity in a decade. Dealmaking activity has dried up as executives have contended with recession fears, decades-high interest rates and geopolitical tensions.