• Combined advisory fees at large investment banks and overall revenues at smaller advisory firms, which often track M&A activity, rose 26% through the first nine months of 2026 at the largest US firms that report earnings publicly.

• Perella Weinberg posted the fastest growth in the third quarter among all of the firms tracked at 53%.

• The value of announced deals targeting US companies fell 57% in the third quarter from the second quarter after the strongest start to a year on record.

US announced M&A falls 57% in third quarter as megadeals stall

The value of announced mergers and acquisitions targeting US companies fell 57% in the third quarter from the second quarter, according to LSEG. The drop came after the strongest start to a year on record for US target deals, which reached $1.69 trillion through July.

Preliminary LSEG data through Sept. 18 on the third quarter reported on by Axios showed US deal value down 37% from a year earlier and the number of deals down 47%.

The decline in large deals accounted for much of the decline in total volume. Ten deals worth more than $10 billion were announced worldwide in the third quarter, down from 26 in the second quarter and the fewest since the fourth quarter of 2024, according to LSEG.

The pullback cut across industries. Worldwide, deal value fell 57% in technology, 57% in industrials and 50% in energy in the third quarter, according to LSEG.

The 10 largest US deals in the third quarter totaled $90.7 billion, compared with more than $350 billion in the second quarter, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Overall, the number of deals worldwide is down 8% this year to its lowest level since 2020, according to LSEG.

In October, JPMorgan Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said deals that stalled were more likely “delayed rather than canceled.”

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs in its third-quarter earnings release said its investment banking fee “backlog decreased compared with the end of the second quarter of 2026 and decreased slightly compared with the end of 2025.”

‍US private equity buyout value falls 55% as exits surge

According to PitchBook’s latest US PE Breakdown report, US private equity deal value fell 30% in the third quarter from a year earlier, while exit value rose 54%.

Buyouts drove the decline, with buyout value down 55% and the number of buyouts down 42%. PitchBook said sponsors are favoring smaller, lower-risk deals, with add-on acquisitions making up 75% of all buyouts this year.

Exits rebounded to $165.5 billion across 405 companies, up 50% in value from the second quarter. Though the firm cautioned that the gains came from a handful of very large transactions rather than broad-based liquidity, with mega-exits accounting for $116 billion, or 78% of exit value.

Corporate buyers drove many of those deals. The number of exits to corporate buyers fell to 108, the lowest since 2020, but their value more than doubled from the second quarter to $86.6 billion, nearly 60% of the quarter’s total.

At the same time, smaller companies were harder to sell. PitchBook said sponsors struggled to exit assets valued below $100 million because higher financing costs hit sales to other sponsors, the main buyers for those companies.

M&A fees jump 26% this year at major banks as growth cools in Q3

Combined advisory fees at large investment banks and overall revenues at smaller advisory firms, which often track M&A activity, rose 26% through the first nine months of 2026 at the largest US firms that report earnings publicly.

Revenue growth was strongest early in the year, when the largest banks were far outpacing smaller firms. It slowed through the third quarter, when growth rates had evened out across large, middle-market and boutique firms.

The banks earned about $26.9 billion in M&A fees through September, up from $21.4 billion a year earlier, according to an analysis of their quarterly earnings reports. Combined revenue growth slowed each quarter, from 47% in the first quarter to 20% in the second and 14% in the third.

Even as growth slowed, M&A activity, tracked by advisory fees at the largest banks and overall revenues from smaller advisory firms, did not fall off. The third quarter was the largest of the year, with about $9.4 billion in fees, up from $8.3 billion in the second quarter and $9.1 billion in the first.

Still, the largest banks captured most of the gains. M&A fees at the five biggest banks rose 34% through September, led by Morgan Stanley at 52% and JPMorgan at 42%. Citi was the exception, with advisory revenue up 3% for the year.

Banks focused on middle-market deals kept pace, with combined advisory revenue up 31% through September, led by Oppenheimer at 101% and Jefferies at 34%. Oppenheimer’s gain lifted the five banks’ average growth to 42% without which the average was 27%.

For the first nine months of the year, smaller advisory firms lagged. Their combined revenue rose 14%, and nearly all of that came from Evercore’s 43% growth. Excluding Evercore, boutique revenue was roughly flat for the year, and Houlihan Lokey and Lazard both declined.

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In the third quarter, the growth gap between the largest banks and smaller firms narrowed. Combined growth at the largest banks slowed to 16%, and Bank of America’s advisory fees fell 19% from a year earlier.

Across advisory revenues at large investment banks and total revenues at advisory firms, Perella Weinberg posted the fastest growth in the third quarter among all of the firms tracked. The firm’s revenues rose 53% from a year earlier, followed by gains of 34% at Raymond James and 32% at JPMorgan.

Middle-market banks grew 20%, though results there diverged: Jefferies and Raymond James stayed strong at 25% and 34%, while Stifel and Oppenheimer slipped with -3% and -8%.

Most boutiques moved the other way. After a mostly flat first half, they returned to growth in the third quarter, led by Perella Weinberg at 53% and Moelis at 19%. PJT Partners was the exception, with revenue down 14% after rising in the first half of the year.

The result is a more even market heading into the final quarter. Early in the year the gains went mainly to the largest banks. By the third quarter, big banks, middle-market banks and independent advisers were growing at similar rates.