Mergers & Acquisitions

A Leading M&A Firm

Wilson Sonsini consistently is ranked among the leading M&A advisors in the country based on the number of announced and/or completed transactions by such authorities as Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, LSEG, and Mergermarket.

Comprehensive Scope of Transactions Experience

Wilson Sonsini counsels on the full range of M&A transactions involving domestic and foreign technology, life sciences, and other enterprises at all stages of development. We have advised clients on:

• Transformative transactions where complex governance matters, debt financings, antitrust, intellectual property, and other matters intersect 
• Acquisition programs, scaling legal teams and processes to handle both smaller and larger transactions on a cost-efficient basis 
• Creative and flexible structures for complex transactions

A Global and Interdisciplinary Team

Our team of over 500 corporate and M&A attorneys around the world often serve as the coordinating interface with in-house counsel for a multidisciplinary Wilson Sonsini team because of their experience in areas of importance to transactions, including corporate governance; corporate securities; IP; privacy; executive compensation and employee benefits; tax; and real estate. We also have an elite merger clearance team comprised of antitrust and national security attorneys and advise on regulatory matters inherently involved in completing transactions, including antitrust clearance and foreign direct investment approvals in the United States and across the globe. In addition, we have established relationships with leading law firms in international markets that are not in proximity to our own global office locations.

Aligned with Client M&A Strategies

We have become a trusted advisor to companies at all growth stages because of the breadth of our M&A transactional experience combined with our “client-first” approach. For every engagement, we align with our client’s M&A strategy to gain a full understanding of their business priorities, objectives, and internal operations, as well as the unique elements of the transaction. Our clients also rely on our unparalleled ability to work collaboratively with all key constituencies in a deal, including boards of directors, founders and control shareholders, management teams, and investors. 

Representative Transactions

Select M&A transactions in which the firm has participated include representing:

Milestone Transactions

• Brex in its $5.15 billion acquisition by Capital One
• Jony Ive and LoveFrom in the $6.5 billion acquisition of io Products by OpenAI 
• Scale AI in its $14.35 billion investment from Meta 
• Bungie in its $3.6 billion acquisition by Sony
• DoorDash in its $8.1 billion acquisition of Wolt 
• Medallia in its $6.4 billion acquisition by Thoma Bravo 
• Twitter in its $44 billion acquisition by Elon Musk 
• CA Technologies in its $18.9 billion acquisition by Broadcom 
• Microchip in its $10.3 billion acquisition of Microsemi 
• MuleSoft in its $6.5 billion acquisition by Salesforce
• Linear Technology in its $14.8 billion acquisition by Analog Devices 
• Yahoo in its $4.5 billion acquisition by Verizon 
• LinkedIn in its $26.2 billion acquisition by Microsoft 
• NetSuite in its $9.3 billion acquisition by Oracle
• Altera in its $16.7 billion acquisition by Intel 
• Pharmacyclics in its $21 billion acquisition by AbbVie
• McAfee in its $7.7 billion acquisition by Intel 
• Sun Microsystems in its $8.3 billion acquisition by Oracle
• Genentech in its $46.8 billion acquisition by Roche 
• Google in its $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick 
• YouTube in its $1.65 billion acquisition by Google 
• Pixar in its $7.4 billion acquisition by Disney 

Recent Public Company M&A Transactions

• Arcellx in its pending $7.8 billion acquisition by Gilead
• Soleno Therapeutics in its pending $2.9 billion acquisition by Neurocrine
• Armada Acquisition Corp. II in its pending $1 billion business combination with Evernorth Holdings
• Udemy in its pending $2.5 billion combination with Coursera
• Marvell in its $3.25 acquisition of Celestial AI
• Lumentum in its strategic partnership and related $2 billion equity investment from NVIDIA
• Couchbase in its $1.5 billion acquisition by Haveli Investments
• Transcarent in its $861.8 million acquisition of Accolade
• Infinera in its $2.4 billion acquisition by Nokia
• HashiCorp in its $6.4 billion acquisition by IBM 
• Rover in its $2.4 billion acquisition by Blackstone
• Hawaiian Airlines in its $1.9 billion acquisition by Alaska Airlines 
• Silk Road Medical in its $1.3 billion acquisition by Boston Scientific 
• VIZIO in its $2.3 billion acquisition by Walmart
• Amphastar in its $1.2 billion acquisition of BAQSIMI
• Thorne HealthTech in its $680 million acquisition by L Catterton 
• ForgeRock in its $2.3 billion acquisition by Thoma Bravo 
• Momentive in its $1.5 billion acquisition by Symphony Technology Group 
• Sumo Logic in its $1.7 billion acquisition by Francisco Partners 
• KnowBe4 in its $4.6 billion acquisition by Vista Equity Partners
• Mandiant in its $5.4 billion acquisition by Alphabet
• Poly in its $3.3 billion acquisition by HP Inc. 
• Zynga in its $12.7 billion acquisition by Take-Two
• Sierra Oncology in its $1.9 billion acquisition by GSK 
• Talend in its $2.4 billion acquisition by Thoma Bravo

Other Recent M&A Transactions

• Special committee of the board in Globalstar’s pending $11.57 billion acquisition by Amazon
• Excellergy in its pending $2 billion acquisition by Novartis
• Plus in its pending $1.2 billion business combination with Churchill IX
• Centerview as financial advisor to Qorvo in its pending $22 billion acquisition by Skyworks
• Chronosphere in its $3.35 billion acquisition by Palo Alto Networks
• Morgan Stanley as financial advisor to Confluent in its $11 billion acquisition by IBM
• OneStream in its $6.4 billion acquisition by Hg
• Ventyx Biosciences in its $1.2 billion acquisition by Eli Lilly
• Major shareholders of HistoSonics in its $2.25 billion majority stake acquisition
• Fivetran in its pending merger with dbt Labs 
• Grammarly in its acquisition of Superhuman Labs 
• Clio in its $1 billion acquisition of vLex
• Ampere Computing in its $6.5 billion acquisition by SoftBank Group
• Xero in its $3 billion acquisition of Melio
• Kodiak in its $3.3 billion Business Combination with Ares Acquisition Corporation 
• Taiho Pharmaceutical in its $1.1 billion acquisition of Araris Biotech
• Marvell in Infineon's $2.5 billion acquisition of its Automotive Ethernet Business 
• Windsurf in its acquisition by Cognition AI
• Anduril in its acquisition of the IVAS Program from Microsoft 
• Divvy Homes (portfolio and platform) in its $1 billion acquisition by Maymont Homes
• Grammarly in its acquisition of Coda Project 
• Pismo in its $1 billion acquisition by Visa
• Kerecis in its $1.3 billion acquisition by Coloplast 
• DTx Pharma in its $1.1 billion acquisition by Novartis 
• Morgan Stanley as financial advisor to Qualtrics in its $11.2 billion acquisition by Silver Lake Management 
• Qatalyst Partners as financial advisor to Citrix in its $16.7 billion acquisition by Vista Equity Partners and Elliott Management