M&A History Podcast

Gene Sykes

The co-head of Global M&A at Goldman Sachs, longtime partner, chair of the board for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, and member of the International Olympic Committee.

2028 LA Olympic and Paralympic Games Funding Structure

An event that is essentially privately funded with no government financial support for operations, except for federal government assistance with security and security-related logistics across $206$ participating countries.

Clean Venues Rule

An Olympic rule requiring that fields of play remain completely free of corporate advertising during competitions so the focus stays entirely on the sports and athletes.

Olympic Lanes

Dedicated transit lanes—utilizing existing high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes—planned during the Los Angeles Olympics to move traffic efficiently around the city.

DNA Deals

M&A transactions driven by non-technology or incumbent companies acquiring technology assets, AI talent, and capabilities to embed AI fluency into their core operations.

Yiping Zhang

The founder who, along with his development teams in China, created the original recommendation algorithms behind TikTok.

2021 M&A Peak

A historic high in global M&A deal value reaching roughly $\\text{S}5.9\text{ trillion}$, driven by near-zero interest rates, high equity valuations, post-COVID pent-up demand, PE dry powder, and SPACs.

2026 PE Triple Shock

A trio of market disruptions in early 2026 that halted private equity recovery: an AI-driven software valuation rout, private credit redemption stress, and an energy price spike from the Iran conflict.

SaaSpocalypse

A sharp market contraction where tech PE deal value fell $70\%$ from Q4 2025 to Q1 2026 and private software portfolio marks declined by roughly $8\%$ due to AI disruption anxieties.

Bain Deal Cost Index

A combined measure of purchase entry multiples and interest rate financing costs, which reached an all-time record high in 2026, making PE deals more expensive than ever before.

'12 is the New 5' Framework

A Bain framework stating that because of record deal expensiveness, a PE deal that needed $5\%$ annual EBITDA growth to achieve a $2.5\times$ return a decade ago now requires $10\%$ to $12\%$ annual EBITDA growth.

Ontra NDA Data

A private equity leading indicator tracking non-disclosure agreement activity on an AI workflow platform, which historically correlates with deal closings approximately three months later.

PE Exit Logjam

An industry bottleneck where approximately $33{,}000$ buyout-backed portfolio companies remain unsold, holding periods reach an average of seven years, and distributions to LPs hit record lows.

ILPA 5% Discount Threshold

An Institutional Limited Partners Association survey benchmark showing that a majority of LPs lose confidence in a GP when an asset is fully exited at a discount greater than $5\%$ relative to its last mark.

Green Zones and Red Zones

A private equity dealmaking strategy framework separating high-conviction investment sectors ('green zones') from sectors experiencing extreme uncertainty or AI disruption risks ('red zones').

Volatility Paradox

A corporate environment identified by Goldman Sachs wherein boardroom leadership views operational or strategic inaction as a far greater risk than executing M&A deals.