2026 was shaping up to be a bumper year for corporate mergers, with Washington rolling out the welcome mat and AI fears lighting a fire under CEOs.
Can those animal spirits survive growing fears of an economic slowdown, higher inflation, war, and continued global chaos? We’ll get a gut check this week in New Orleans at the M&A bar’s annual gathering. Early reports are dour: “Nobody wants to prognosticate or speculate against this backdrop,” one M&A advisor said in the back room at Arnaud’s steakhouse. They’ll do plenty of both anyway later today, as the Tulane conference officially begins.
“The good news is that there is a healthy M&A pipeline marked by a lot of strategics that want to get things done in a favorable regulatory environment,” said an M&A partner at White & Case. “But with what’s happening in the world at the moment I think many parties are going to wait until things calm down before striking deals.”
Some deals that were in process pre-Iran are going quiet or have collapsed, advisers said. Boards still scarred from tariff drama aren’t eager for more geopolitical exposure. Tulane’s other big contingent, activist investors, have been a bit defanged by AI, which is messing with companies’ strategies and their ability to credibly critique them. But the mood was glum last year, too, and yet, the $4.5 trillion worth of deals ended up being the second-highest tally ever.
