How Mergers and Acquisitions Created Value During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Empirical Evidence from the U.S. TMT Industry

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the U.S. market, including merger and acquisition (M&A) activity. This thesis aims to identify potential factors influencing M&A success and also examines the long-term performance of U.S. acquirers in the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) sector during the pandemic. Based on a sample of 65 M&As conducted in 2019, our analysis reveals statistically insignificant negative abnormal returns for acquiring companies when using the buy-and-hold abnormal return (BHAR) method for one year. The study also reveal weak correlations between BHARs and the selected independent variables, indicating limited direct associations between acquirer’s BHARs and the determinants usually considered as important predictors of abnormal returns.