September, 2015
E-Commerce M&A continues to see strong activity. Year-to-date 2015 transaction volume of 216 deals is on pace with record 2014 levels. During 2014, there were 375 transactions, an increase of over 12% from the prior year.
For the year-to-date 2015 period, strategic buyers accounted for 80% of the e-commerce M&A transactions with financial buyers making up the difference. During 2014, strategic buyers accounted for just over 85% of the transactions.
For announced transactions (albeit a limited sample size), e-commerce multiples saw a modest increase from 10.5x EBITDA and 0.7x revenue in 2014 to 10.6x EBITDA and 1.1x revenue year-to-date 2015.
Peakstone equally weighted e-commerce index continues to outperform the S&P 500.
Notable publicly announced 2015 transactions:
– QVC, Inc. entered into a definitive agreement to acquire zulily, Inc. for approximately $2.4 billion.
– Gamestop entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Geeknet for approximately $130 million.
– Expedia entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Orbitz for $1.4 billion.