This blog post is sponsored content by a 2019 Connectiv Executive Summit sponsor JEGI | CLARITY

While the number of deals in the B2B Media & Technology category grew a healthy 27 percent to 80 transactions in the first nine months of 2018, deal value leaped 1,326 percent, thanks to several deals worth more than $1 billion, according the JEGI Q3 2018 M&A Overview. 

This is sponsored content by a 2018 Connectiv Executive Summit sponsor: JEGI

This is sponsored content by a 2017 Connectiv Executive Summit sponsor: JEGI

While the number of mergers and acquisitions in the B2B Media & Technology space dipped 5 percent to 88 in 2016, the value of those deals soared 427 percent to $32.6 billion, thanks to a few key blockbuster deals, according to the Jordan, Edmiston Group's 2016 M&A Report.

While the b2b media and technology sector saw just two more deals in the first nine months of 2016 over the same period in 2015 (77 versus 75), deal value is up a whopping 475 percent this year thanks to several mega deals, most notably Microsoft's $29.5 billion purchase of LinkedIn but also Informa's $1.6 billion purchase of Penton in September, according to JEGI's quarterly M&A Update.   

UK-based Informa has acquired Light Reading, which provides digital information, marketing and events business serving the TMT community. Light Reading will join Informa’s Knowledge & Networking Division, which includes specialist content, data products and high quality “confexes” in several key verticals including TMT.

The number of mergers and acquisitions in B2B media and technology grew 14 percent while deal value soared 878 percent to $3.1 billion in the first half of 2016 compared to the same period last year, according to media banker JEGI.