Goldman Sachs has concluded 2025 as the top global advisor for corporate unions, leveraged off a resurgence in billion-dollar tie-ups to capture an eye-whopping 32% slice of total market activity.
Final data from LSEG confirms the American advisory powerhouse marshalled US$1.48 trillion in capital deals over the last 12 months, marking its most robust performance by value since the 1980s.
A flurry of elephant-sized consolidations came through, securing mandates on an impressive 38 of the 68 global boardrooms involving targets above the US$10 billion threshold.
Fees up
The high intensity in throughput translated into a substantial revenue gap over its well-known rival, generating $4.6 billion in pure advisory fees for the calendar year, almost 50% above the others.
- JPMorgan Chase: $3.1 billion
- Morgan Stanley: $3 billion
- Citigroup: $2 billion
- Evercore: $1.7 billion
While the blue-chip powerhouse held the top aggregate rank, it was notably absent from the two largest individual amalgamations: Union Pacific’s $88.2 billion absorption of Norfolk Southern and the contested bidding war for Warner Bros Discovery.
Shifting guardrails
A primary catalyst was a perceived softening in U.S. competition oversight. as a permissive regulatory climate encouraged leaders in rail, consumer goods, and technology to move sideways.
The tech sector remained the most active theatre, representing a substantial portion of the enormous 5.1 trillion total global transaction footprint.
A significant mandate included the firm's sell-side shepherding of the sale of Electronic Arts to a PIF-led consortium for $56.6 billion, currently the largest leveraged buyout on the books.
The firm's market hegemony was most visible in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), where it secured 44.7% market share - a level of regional influence not seen since 1999.
In the United Kingdom, the bank spearheaded $227.9 billion in value across 95 separate boardroom pacts.
Looking into 2026, the strategy is expected to pivot from transformational mega-mergers toward execution-led corporate separations.
This evolution is likely to favour de-conglomeration as diversified entities spin off non-core assets to streamline operations in a high-valuation climate.
