Company makes an acquisition
🤝 M&AThe company announces it is buying another business.
Typical size
1-6% down on announcement
Timeframe
Immediate; reverses if integration delivers
Evidence
2 logged events
Why it moves the price
The acquirer pays a premium with cash, debt or new shares, so near-term value transfers to the target's holders. Synergies are promised but uncertain.
What separates a good call from a naive one
Acquirers usually dip — the bigger the deal relative to the acquirer and the higher the premium, the bigger the dip. All-stock deals are punished more than cash deals. Serial acquirers with a proven record get more benefit of the doubt.
Measured impact
Every logged event is measured against real closing prices: the move from the close before the event, compared with the S&P 500 over the same window.
Next day
-3.25%
- Median
- -3.25%
- Moved up
- 0% of 2
- vs S&P 500
- -2.20%
After 1 week
-6.81%
- Median
- -6.81%
- Moved up
- 0% of 2
- vs S&P 500
- -2.78%
After 1 month
+0.16%
- Median
- +0.16%
- Moved up
- 50% of 2
- vs S&P 500
- -1.35%
No measured verdict yet — 2 events logged. Three or more are needed before the data says anything useful.
The evidence (2)
Every row is a real event, measured against actual closing prices.
| Date | Stock | What happened | Next day | 1 week | 1 month | vs S&P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 18, 2022 | MSFT | Microsoft announces $69B acquisition of Activision Blizzard The acquirer's side of a large all-cash deal — the target, ATVI, has since been delisted so its reaction cannot be measured. | -2.43% | -4.46% | -3.14% | -0.66% |
| Oct 27, 2020 | AMD | All-stock acquisition of Xilinx announced All-stock deals are punished harder than cash deals. | -4.07% | -9.16% | +3.45% | -3.73% |
Measured from historical closing prices. Past reactions do not guarantee future ones. Not financial advice.