If you thought the M&A market was going to cool off after 2025’s late-cycle jitters, the first four months of 2026 would like a word. We tracked over 22,000 deals from January through April and the numbers tell a clear story: dealmakers are swinging big, conviction is back, and the sectors drawing capital have shifted dramatically.
This issue breaks down the four themes that defined the opening stretch of 2026, the headline deals you need to know, and the ones that got away.
1. The AI arms race goes full-throttle M&A
The biggest deal of the year (or decade?) landed in January when SpaceX absorbed xAI in an all-share transaction valuing the Elon Musk AI venture at $230 billion. Not bad for a company that barely existed two years ago. The deal consolidates Musk’s AI ambitions under the SpaceX umbrella and signals that the AI infrastructure race has entered its capital-in…
