11 Top M&A News Sources: Latest News, Deals, and More (2024)

Good dealmaking relies on good information. That means publicly available information as much as what’s uncovered during the due diligence process.

M&A Science aims to provide M&A practitioners with an information resource that they can continually revert to. In addition to courses provided by experienced dealmakers, content is continuously updated to reflect the latest thinking, movements, and events in M&A.

This information can and should be complemented by information provided by a series of good sources for M&A-related news. These are the 11 we recommend for these purposes:

1. Financial News

One of the lesser-known sources of up-to-date M&A news also happens to be one of the most informative.

‍Financial News focuses on specific areas such as asset management and investment banking, regularly interviewing some of the biggest names in M&A.

Being a London-based site, most of the new is European, but still provides a valuable resource for M&A practitioners.

2. Seeking Alpha

Although not one of the traditional members of the financial press, SeekingAlpha has made an outstanding contribution since being founded nearly 20 years ago, in 2014.

Its content is helpfully divided into dozens of different finance-related categories, and the site enables readers to follow certain writers that cover topics that interest them. Use the search function to find your way to new relevant to you.

3. CNBC

CNBC is an outstanding news resource, whose competence in the area of M&A is shown by the number of academic studies into M&A activity that use CNBC news on deals to find the announcement date of relevant deals.

Remarkably, the site is still free-of-charge, providing regularly updated high quality news on M&A, industries, and almost everything else in the world of business, economics, and finance.

4. Yahoo! Finance

Like CNBC, Yahoo! Finance is a free-to-use resource, which is being updated on an ongoing basis.

In addition to providing a treasure trove of historical data on public companies (also commonly used by academic studies in M&A), it is an excellent resource for information on the dynamics of deals, often going into the minute details of a deal’s structure, buyer motivations, and market feedback.  

5. Financial Times

Although it is not a free publication (non-subscribers can read up to 3 articles per day), the Financial Times provides world-class analysis of mergers and acquisitions, both before and after they close.

This analysis is complemented by regular interviews with the biggest names in industry, and a series of industry analysts, ranging from investment bankers to wealth managers.

6. The M&A Journal

The M&A Journal’s marketing tag is: “The independent report on deals and deal makers.” Although not strictly a site that covers M&A news - the M&A Journal more commonly reviews deals after they have closed, and how they shaped out - this is still an excellent resource for M&A practitioners, highlighting issues that they need to be aware of in highly digestible and interesting long-form articles.

7. Bloomberg

Bloomberg is similar to both Reuters and CNBC in its news output around mergers and acquisitions. Having acquired BusinessWeek about a decade ago, it has access to some of the best financial journalists in the world.

This said, the annual $299 is steep given that the analysis on CNBC is its equal, and even better in some instances. An excellent resource, but the Financial Times may be a better punt for M&A enthusiasts.

8. PitchBook

The statistics around PitchBook, which it proudly displays on its homepage tell you everything you need to know about its credibility around M&A. These include 4,791 press citations in 2021 across a range of high-profile publications.

In addition to a regularly updated news channel, PitchBook gives users access to data covering nearly 2 million deals, 112 thousand funds, and 3.5 million public and private companies.

9. Institutional Investor

Institutional Investor tends to be more of a ‘views paper’ than a ‘news paper’, offering up plenty of independent comment on the current dynamics of M&A. The good news is that the comment is intelligent, trustworthy, and highly readable.

One issue is that the commentary isn’t updated as prolifically as other sites, with less than 10 new articles appearing over the course of an average day.

10. MergerMarket

Merger market is not a news site, but is still an indispensable source of M&A-related news for professionals in the area. Its homepage makes the bold claim that it delivers insights on deals 6-24 months before they become public knowledge.

Despite the self-contradictory nature of that claim, it still indicates the access that MergerMarket has to high-quality M&A information. Expensive, but worth it for serious practitioners.

11. The Middle Market

As the name suggests, the Middle Market is a publication primarily aimed at investment bankers not operating for blue-chip Wall Street banks. It offers a high-quality editorial, looking at the deals and trends that shape industries. The letterhead features topics such as ‘investment banking,’ ‘private equity’, and ‘strategic buyers’, letting M&A practitioners know that they’ve arrived in the right place.

Conclusion

Information at the right time is everything in M&A. Learning about an attractive company or industry segment before everyone else at least opens the option to buyers to gain first mover advantage.

All the names on this list represent excellent resources for serious M&A practitioners. Indeed, their subscribers include FirmRoom’s own contributors, and they’ve shared some of the insights on our M&A Science channel.