M&A reporting after 10 years

Yvette Kantrow, the executive editor of The Deal, writes about how reporting on mergers and acquisitions has changed in the 10 years that the publication has existed.

Kantrow writes, “Deal reporting may have changed over the years, but one thing has remained the same: the media’s desire to call and cover an M&A boom, to view it as a game, much like CNBC treats the stock market. In the wake of several big deal announcements in late August and September (Kraft-Cadbury, Disney-Marvel, eBay-Skype, among others), The New York Times and the Journal both cooed about the return of ‘Merger Monday.’

“Of course, the reports contained a dutiful dose of skepticism — ‘dealmaking is likely to rise only in fits and starts,’ warned the Times — as well as reminders of the potential evils of deals. But overall, the prospect of a long and messy takeover battle, for a candy company no less, had the media aflutter, mostly because of what it says about the economy and the recovery. As London’s Guardian put it in a headline, ‘The revival of M&A is better than a poke in the eye.’

“That’s not quite the same level of euphoria the media had for deals back in 1999, but all the musing about a possible merger wave still had us feeling some déjà vu. And that sense crystallized last week, when the Times published a fulsome story about Oliver Stone preparing to film his long-awaited sequel to his 1987 movie, Wall Street, reportedly titled Money Never Sleeps.

“In the Times, Stone expresses surprise that the intended villain of the piece, Gordon Gekko, inspired young people to seek careers on Wall Street. But at the same time, he takes credit for bringing ‘glamour’ to finance and, by extension, to financial journalism.”