Higher interest rates and uncertainty about the direction of the economy weighed on the media and telecom deal market in February. S&P Global Market Intelligence says the number of deals announced last month fell to 89 in the U.S. and Canada, which was a 36% decline from a year earlier when 139 deals were counted. Last month's deal tally also represents a sequential decline of 25.8% from the 120 deals announced in January. According to a new data analysis by S&P, the total deal value in the technology, media, and telecom sector plunged to $183.5 million, compared to an $11.16 billion value of the deals announced during February 2022.
S&P says none of the media and telecom sector’s top transactions in February reached the $100 million mark. The largest deal was in the Spanish-language broadcast space as Voz Media agreed to pay $64 million to buy Spanish Broadcasting System’s MegaTV business. Stations included in the deal are five low-power TV stations in Puerto Rico that carry the company’s “Mega TV” Spanish-language network. Buyer Voz Media is an online news service that serves Latinos in the U.S and Latin America from studios in Dallas, Miami and Madrid.
Online auction marketplace operator Auction Technology Group’s $40 million acquisition of Vintage Software was last month's second-biggest deal. Jackson, MO-based Vintage Software operates as estatesales.net, a U.S. estate sales listing site.