Social Media’s Impact on the Global Mergers and Acquisitions Market

Abstract

This study analyses the impact of social media popularity on the global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market using a sample of 66,905 M&A transactions across 50 countries for the sample period from 2011 to 2017. Social media influence on M&A transactions is tested using competing bids and proportion of cash paid in the transaction deal characteristics. We find that social media popularity has increased the probability of competing bids by 7.7% across countries and the proportion of cash paid in transactions decreased by 2.5% across countries. The results of additional analyses using the introduction of the internet are consistent with the conclusion that technologies that enhance the transmission of public information have an effect on the M&A variables tested. We test the robustness of our results using subsample analysis and placebo tests. This study is distinct from existing literature due to its globally diverse M&A dataset, unique social media and internet data, and cross-country approach to social media’s influence on financial markets.