- Goldman Sachs advised on 38 of 68 global $10B-plus M&A deals in 2025 and about $1.48T of deal value (~32% of the market).
- It led banks in M&A fees with $4.6B, ahead of JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Citi, and Evercore.
- Goldman captured 44.7% of announced M&A involving Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, its highest regional share since 1999.
- The surge was aided by easier regulation and abundant capital, though Goldman missed the year’s two largest headline deals.
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In what has been described as “an extraordinary M&A market,” Goldman Sachs not only solidified its leadership in 2025 dealmaking but outpaced rivals across multiple metrics, signaling strategic positioning that could yield lasting competitive advantages. Advising on 38 of the 68 $10B-plus deals globally underscored the bank’s grip on the upper‐end of the advisory market, while its $1.48 trillion total puts it at about 32% of market share by value.
Fee income tells a similar story: Goldman’s $4.6B in M&A advisory fees topped that of JPMorgan ($3.1B), Morgan Stanley ($3B), Citi ($2B), and Evercore ($1.7B). The gap illustrates the skewed returns in high-value transactions, where winners take a large slice. The bank’s dominance in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMA), with nearly 45% market share, reveals a strategic strength in cross-border and regionally complex transactions. That is significant both for brand strength and regulatory deal execution, especially in an environment where antitrust and policy are increasingly political.
However, certain risks and caveats emerge. Goldman wasn’t involved in the largest single transactions of the year—Union Pacific’s roughly $88B deal for Norfolk Southern, and the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery. These are emblematic of scale and prestige, and missing them may affect topline visibility even if overall metrics were outstanding.
Externally, structural tailwinds in 2025 helped fuel the surge in mega-deals: easing antitrust scrutiny, strong corporate balance sheets, declining interest rates, and private equity / sovereign wealth fund dry powder. These condiciones bode well for sustaining momentum into 2026. Goldman Sachs itself projected record deal flow next year.
Strategically, Goldman’s performance reinforces the value of being able to execute large, complex cross-border deals, operate in high fee-margin brackets, and maintain deal-execution leadership despite external pressures. Open questions center on whether regulatory/opposition risk resurfaces, how the pipeline will withstand macro stress (rates, inflation, economic slowdown), and whether Goldman can defend its share as others make bids for mega-deals.
Supporting Notes
- In 2025, there were 68 announced global M&A deals valued at $10B or more, of which 38 involved Goldman Sachs as adviser.
- Goldman Sachs advised on $1.48 trillion of total deals in 2025, representing about 32% of the total global M&A market value.
- The bank earned $4.6 billion in M&A advisory fees, surpassing peers including JPMorgan ($3.1B) and Morgan Stanley ($3B).
- Goldman’s market share in announced M&A activity involving Europe, Middle East, and Africa stood at 44.7%, the highest since 1999.
- Key large transactions in which Goldman had advisory roles include Electronic Arts’ $55B take-private, Juniper Networks’ $14.3B sale to Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Thoma Bravo’s $10.55B acquisition of Boeing’s aviation-software business, and others.
- The top two M&A deals of the year were Union Pacific’s ~$88B acquisition of Norfolk Southern, and the bidding war for Warner Bros Discovery—neither of which had Goldman as the lead advisor.