H/Advisors Abernathy 2025 M&A Data and Insights: More Than 60% of the Largest Transactions Announced in 2024 Leaked Before Announcement

In its fifth annual edition, our proprietary research – ‘When Deals Spring a Leak Volume V’ –provides corporate leaders, Boards of Directors and M&A advisors with key insights and trends from the past year of dealmaking.  

Building on the firm’s proprietary database of M&A transactions, our Research & Insights team analyzed announced transactions valued at $1 billion and greater to understand the frequency at which deals leak as well as how a leak may affect perception of the transaction among media and digital audiences.  

In 2024 we found that:  

• Almost a third (31%) of announced transactions valued at $1 billion and greater in 2024 leaked prior to the official announcement.  

• Deals valued at $10 billion or greater continued to leak at a significantly higher rate, at 64% in 2024, a substantial increase from 43% in 2023. 

• Transaction leaks are occurring earlier in the deal process, on average, 52 days in advance of an announcement, with 19% of leaks occurring within two days of the deal’s official announcement.  

• Entertainment, Leisure and Media remained the “leakiest sector”, increasing to 62% of deals leaking to media before the official announcement, up from 45% in 2023. Deals in the Tech sector also leaked at a substantially higher rate, up to 46% leaking from 26% in 2023.  

• On average, leaked deal rumors rank among the top five most visible news moments of the year for both buyer and target companies.  

• Nearly three in four mentions of a transaction leak start with an online news story and then travel to social media, led by X (16% of leak mentions) and LinkedIn (10% of leak mentions) where attention spreads rapidly.