Despite 2020 being a challenging year for everyone, many companies made strategic business acquisitions into the digital space. An article on S&P Global covers this market movement. It’s titled “1st-time acquisitions of digital businesses expected to continue in 2021.”

Author Katie Arcieri begins her article with an interesting trend. She writes, “Corporations that never before acquired businesses in the digital space rushed to purchase ventures in the internet and e-commerce categories last year, a trend analysts expect to continue in 2021 as buyers target deals that bolster their online presence.” Later in the article, she includes an unexpected statistic:  “Total deal value announced globally by first-time strategic acquirers of digital businesses reached $34.3 billion in 2020, up from about $25.5 billion in 2019, according to 451 Research’s M&A KnowledgeBase, which tracks tech transactions as they are announced.”

That’s certainly a lot of money moving around in the midst of a global shutdown! And it’s a testament to the entrepreneurial spirit rising above unexpected challenges.

Arcieri shares several reasons behind these first-time acquisitions into the digital space, including opportunities to be innovative, drive efficiencies, reach more customers, and lower costs. The top primary target sectors for 1st-time acquirers in 2020 were in the internet content & commerce industry and communication services. This consists of games, news, services, classifieds and other general industries.

There is a great deal more information in the article worth reading. To do so, click here.

As a business owner, are your strategic planning wheels turning based on this continuing digital acquisition trend?  If so, we’d love to chat with you about your current business goals to see how we can come alongside you and support the growth you desire.

Take a minute and book a Coffee & a Consult with us here! There is no charge for this conversation and it will provide you an opportunity to learn how we can partner with you to reach your next level of success.

—————————————

Kris Cavanaugh Castro is the People Development Coach at Aepiphanni, the trusted advisor for business leaders who are seeking forward-thinking solutions to help them plan for and navigate through the challenges of business growth.  Kris has over 25 years of coaching, training and mentoring leaders to greater success; and she periodically writes about leadership development and facilitates change management conversations.

We would love to hear from you.  Please share your thoughts and comments below.