Mergers Down...And Up

From June until today, the dollar amount of mergers was only $191.9 billion, the second lowest number in the past six years. But the 3,400 mergers were also the second highest number of mergers over the same period. Recent mergers and acquisitions have generally been "bolt-on" mergers, that is adding to an existing division, rather than "transformational" mergers which add an entirely new division or product line.