recent m&a deals

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[CHART] See the Latest M&A Deals from AAPL, AMZN, FB, GOOG, and YHOO

By , Associate Editor, Money Morning • @TaraKateClarke -

Tech M&A deals are so commonplace now they often come and go with little fanfare. Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) alone has acquired 44 companies since 2000. Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL) has gobbled up more than three times that, with 144 buys in the last 15 years.

These deals are actually changing our lives - perhaps more than we realize. For instance, Google bought mobile software Android in 2005. Now, Android smartphones account for 78.4% of global market share. There are 76 million Android users in the U.S. alone.

Here are five charts that show the recent M&A deals from American tech sweethearts Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Yahoo!, and Google.

In another year or two, chances are some of these buys will have changed the way we live...

M&A Deals Alive and Well - and Dishing Out Huge Profits

By , Contributing Writer, Money Morning -

Deal making is back on Wall Street - in a big way.

Mergers had been nearly non-existent for nearly six years in the wake of the financial crisis as global economic uncertainty, heightened scrutiny of corporate boards, high unemployment and the housing market bust had put a damper on M&A deals.

But 2013 has begun with a flurry of deal making, with $160 billion worth of merger activity thus far, the most at this point in the year since 2005, according to Dealogic.

And the stellar start to the markets this year - the S&P gained 6.6% in January and the Dow is quickly approaching its all-time high - suggests deal making will heat up in the months ahead.

The latest M&A deals come at a time of historically low financing costs, renewed corporate confidence, and companies flush with stockpiles of cash. In this climate, companies are seeking growth through deals and see them as a way to expand while appeasing anxious shareholders.

"The dam is burst. The forces were too powerful to hold back forever," James B. Lee,
vice chairman of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), told The Wall Street Journal.

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