• by Wayne Friedman , October 5, 2015

A hot mergers-and-acquisition market for media, information and technology companies is near pre-recession levels for the first three quarters of the year.

The Jordan, Edmiston Group (JEGI), the investment banker, says 1,758 transactions were announced with a total value of $106.2 billion. This is up in both areas versus the same nine-month period a year ago --- 1,636 deals and $96.8 billion in value. JEGI says these current deal-making levels haven’t been seen since 2007.

Large media deals announced during the period include Verizon’s $4.8 billion deal for digital media company AOL; Media General’s $3.1 billion acquisition of media company Meredith; Expedia's $1.7 billion purchase of online travel site Orbitz; and LinkedIn’s $1.5 billion deal of Lynda.com, a provider of online educational videos.

Software/technology deals comprised more than half the volume and value during the period-- 1,091 transactions (up 1%) and $58.1 billion (gaining 7%).

The second-biggest category, marketing services and technology, was up 3% in transactions to 463 and down 35% in value, at $19.6 billion. The third-biggest-category, consumer media and technology, was flat in the number of transactions at 159, and 16% higher in value to $17.1 billion.

Two categories behind these three include database/information deals, down 23% to 41 and 64% higher in value to $6.3 billion, and mobile media/technology, a strong performer, up 85% value to $6.2 billion and 13% higher in the number of transactions to 121.

The smallest category in the survey -- exhibitions/conferences -- grew 69% in the number of deals, to 59, and a big 700% more in value to $3.3 billion.