Trump Sparks ‘A Lot of Optimism Among CEOs’ About Dealmaking

President-elect Donald Trump spent decades branding himself as a dealmaker.

Now, the world’s other dealmakers are hoping his return to the White House will lead to an uptick in “megamergers,” the Financial Times reported Thursday (Dec. 19).

The global value of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is up 11% this year, in contrast to 2022 when dealmaking missed the $3 trillion mark for the first time in a decade, the report said. Megadeals — worth more than $5 billion — rose 19% even as the total number of deals dropped.

“Especially for large-deal M&A, it’s mostly about CEO and board confidence levels and — putting your politics aside for a minute — there is a lot of optimism among CEOs for their businesses with the new administration,” said Tony Kim, co-president of investment banking at Centerview Partners, per the report.

“I don’t think you can make a call on [it being] a gangbuster year in 2025, but certainly there are a lot of signs that point to that,” he added, according to the report.

Meanwhile, dealmakers are hopeful that the Trump White House will be more relaxed about big mergers after the stricter regulatory stance of the President Joe Biden administration, the report said.

The past year has seen some colossal M&A deals, such as Capital One’s agreement to buy Discover Financial for $35.3 billion and Mars’ almost $36 billion purchase of Kellanova.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon predicted last week that dealmaking in equities, mergers and acquisitions in 2025 could surpass 10-year averages.

The digital asset space also views Trump as an avenue to prosperity after a Biden administration crackdown.

The price of bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, hit record highs this week after the incoming president said during an interview that his presidency would adopt pro-crypto policies.

“We’re gonna do something great with crypto because we don’t want China, or anybody else … but others are embracing it, and we want to be ahead,” Trump told CNBC, adding that his plans include creating a strategic reserve, similar to America’s oil reserve.