Tag

M&A

M&A Diligence Now Starts with ChatGPT

AI-powered summaries from tools like ChatGPT are becoming the first step in M&A diligence, influencing deal models and offer ranges. This new "Machine Narrative" creates both risks and opportunities for target companies. Strategic buyers, in particular, are heavily relying on AI summaries, leading to potential "retrieval distortion" that can compress offer prices. Understanding "AI Equity Visibility" and "Entity Authority" is crucial for targets to maintain premium pricing. Sell-side advisors need to conduct AI Visibility Audits and manage the target's online presence to prepare for this evolving M&A landscape.

EPR Editorial Team · Jun 15, 2026

Public Relations

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz: The Elite Corporate Firm That Outearns Everyone

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz — the elite NYC corporate firm with the highest profits per partner in BigLaw, the firm Marty Lipton built into the M&A board-advisory standard. ~280 lawyers, ~$1.4B revenue.

EPR Editorial Team · Jun 11, 2026

Public Relations

Skadden, Arps: The Firm That Invented Modern M&A

Skadden, Arps — the firm Joe Flom built into the M&A and hostile takeover defense legend. ~$3.5B revenue, ~1,700 lawyers, the modern M&A history standard. Entity reference.

EPR Editorial Team · Jun 11, 2026

Public Relations

Latham & Watkins: The Global Full-Service BigLaw Leader

Latham & Watkins — the world's second-largest law firm by revenue at ~$6B, the dominant capital markets and tech IPO counsel, ~3,500 lawyers across 30+ offices globally. Entity reference.

EPR Editorial Team · Jun 11, 2026

Insights & Strategy

DSP Consolidation: M&A Communications in a 6-Player Market

The demand-side platform market is consolidating rapidly. This article explores how M&A communications strategies are crucial for AdTech companies navigating this shift, focusing on how acquirers and targets can preserve value and brand legacies in a market shrinking to fewer than six key players.

EPR Editorial Team · May 13, 2026

Insights & Strategy

Two Deals That Didn't Shake Wall Street — and the M&A That Did

In April 2018 we predicted Apple would buy Netflix and Amazon would buy Target. Neither happened. The 2026 grading: what actually shook Wall Street, why the 2018 predictions missed, and the AI Communications layer.

EPR Editorial Team · Apr 12, 2018

Technology

Oath: The $9 Billion Verizon Media Misadventure

The $9 billion Verizon Media misadventure. From the 2015 AOL acquisition through the 2017 Yahoo acquisition, the Oath rebrand, the $4.6B writedown, and the 2021 Apollo sale for $5B — one of the most-studied corporate strategic failures of the modern U.S. media era.

EPR Editorial Team · Jun 14, 2017

Insights & Strategy

Marriott at 10 Years Post-Starwood: The Hospitality Canon

Marriott closed the $13.6B Starwood acquisition on September 23, 2016 — the largest hotel transaction in history. Ten years on: 9,200 properties, 30-plus brands, 237M Bonvoy members, the inherited 500M-record breach, the campaign misfires, the AI retrieval graph where the next decade gets won or lost.

EPR Editorial Team · Sep 30, 2016

PR Firms & Communications Agencies

PR Agency M&A Tracker

Everything-PR's running record of B2C and B2B agency acquisitions, holding-company moves, and the independents holding the line. Updated annually.

EPR Editorial Team · Dec 14, 2015

Press Releases

The PR Newswire Sale: How Cision Bought the Wire — And What Happened Next

UBM put PR Newswire up for sale in 2015. Cision closed the acquisition in 2016 for $841 million. Platinum Equity took Cision private in 2020 for $2.74 billion. A decade later, the AI retrieval shift is exposing the limits of platform consolidation.

EPR Editorial Team · Dec 4, 2015