Bankers are gearing up for another onslaught of monster deals this year

egadeals returned in full force in 2026.

- Lauren Thomas & Ben Dummett

Wall Street is already bracing for another wave in 2026.There were a record 68 transactions valued at $10 billion or more announced globally this year, according to data from LSEG going back to 1980. That drove the average annual deal size to a new high of nearly $227 million.

“Large deals are driving the market. And when you see big deals, it’s a sign of CEO and boardroom confidence,” said Ivan Farman, global co-head of M&A at Bank of America.

Farman said he and his team are anticipating momentum will continue in 2026 and beyond, and across industries.

‘This year’s action picked up as concerns around President Trump's tariffs were subsiding, and bankers and lawyers say it hasn’t slowed down since. One lawyer said she even got messages from clients on Thanksgiving—a 24-hour window that in past years has typically been sacrosanct, even on Wall Street.

In media, Netflix struck a $72 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s studios and HBO Max streaming service, prompting Paramount Skydance to launch a $77.9 billion hostile takeover bid for the entire company.

In July, Union Pacific agreed to buy Norfolk Southern for $72 billion, in a bid to create the first U.S. transcontinental railroad.