• by Wayne Friedman , December 2, 2014

Investment banker Petsky Prunier says 411 deals were announced in November 2014. The value was roughly the same level as October 2014, when some 491 deals were announced. November 2013 witnessed 293 deals, totaling $11.7 billion.

Major deals during November 2014 included Publicis Groupe's acquisition of digital agency Sapient for $3.7 billion; Churchill Downs’ $885 million purchase of social casino studio and mobile gaming producer Big Fish Games; The Carlyle Group’s $700 million buyout of Dealogic, a company providing capital market data, analytics, and services; and Yahoo’s $640 million acquisition of video ad provider BrightRoll. 

Digital media/commerce was the most active segment, with 100 transactions announced at around $3 billion in total value. Mobile content/apps was the most active sub-segment across all segments, with 30 transactions -- 30% of all digital media transactions -- for a total value of $232 million.

Social media deals pulled in the biggest overall value $1.12 billion on some 17 deals, followed by e-commerce at $1.03 billion and 25 deals.

Agency and marketing services was the highest reported value segment, with 22 transactions valued at $3.9 billion. Marketing technology pulled 85 deals, of which 42 were worth $10.7 billion in aggregate reported value. 

Digital advertising produced 37 deals valued at $971 million -- with Yahoo’s deal for BrightRoll the biggest of these.

Traditional media only yielded nine transactions, totaling $508 million. The biggest was Informa’s $237 million purchase of Hanley Wood Exhibitions, the trade show division of UK-based Hanley Wood. Following this there was Landmark Media’s acquisition of CBS-affiliate KLAS-TV for $145 million.