USA – CALIFORNIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Derek Liu, Aarthi Belani and Lawrence Lee, Baker McKenzie
Largest deals in 2025 For the top five deals of 2025 so far, it should be noted that only one is a pure play AI acquisition (Meta/Scale). The remaining four are in the gaming, cybersecurity and networking solutions sub-sectors, though nearly all are AI-adjacent. This should be contrasted with the large sums being invested into AI native companies. It reflects AI’s relatively early stage of development and the continued vitality of “traditional” tech. Electronic Arts/Sponsor group – USD55 billion In September 2025, Electronic Arts agreed to be acquired by a private equity consortium comprising Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake and Affinity Partners in an all-cash transaction. The acquisition would be the largest leveraged buyout in history and the second largest acquisition in the gaming industry after Microsoft’s acquisition of Acti- vision Blizzard. The deal also underscores the rising trend of private equity consortiums coming together to pursue large-scale transactions at a previously unprecedented scale. Alphabet/Wiz – USD32 billion In March 2025, Google entered into a definitive agree- ment to acquire Wiz, a leading cloud security plat- form, making it the largest acquisition in the com- pany’s history. This acquisition improves Google’s cloud offerings in cybersecurity by allowing Google to offer increased security measures that could appeal to customers using their platforms. This deal had been previously abandoned under the Biden administration due to potential regulatory headwinds, and showcas- es the perception of a shifting regulatory landscape opening up mega-cap M&A deals under the Trump administration. Palo Alto Networks/CyberArk – USD25 billion In another landmark transaction in the cybersecurity industry, in July 2025, Palo Alto Networks announced its agreement to acquire CyberArk, a leader in iden- tity security, for approximately USD25 billion. This acquisition is Palo Alto Network’s largest acquisition to date, and marks its entry into the identity security market.
HewlettPackardEnterprises/Juniper Networks – USD14 billion In a deal that received intense regulatory scrutiny, Hewlett Packard Enterprises (HPE) announced an all-cash transaction to acquire Juniper Networks for USD40 per share. In July 2025, HPE closed its acqui- sition at USD14 billion in a deal that would expand HPE’s AI capabilities. Meta/Scale AI – USD14 billion In June 2025, Meta invested USD14.3 billion in Scale AI, representing a 49% stake in the AI start-up. As part of the deal, Scale AI’s CEO, Alexandr Wang, left Scale AI to join Meta as its chief AI officer. This deal was per- ceived in the market as being an extreme example of the trend of AI mega-acquihires, where the traditional per-engineer compensation metrics of USD1 million to USD2 million have given way to sums previously reserved for sports stars. M&A Focus: High-Growth and Transformative Industries of 2025 Artificial intelligence (AI) AI and AI-powered technologies have been the driving force behind the 2025 tech M&A market. Acquirers in the technology industry as well as the non-tech indus- try have been targeting companies with integrated AI hardware, AI platforms and cloud infrastructure as a means of integrating AI into their own operations. In the second quarter of the year, there were 177 M&A deals involving AI. Notable deals The following are a few examples of AI-centric soft- ware transactions. Salesforce’s acquisition of Informatica With the goal of boosting its data management capa- bilities to deploy agentic AI, Salesforce acquired Infor- matica, a leader in enterprise AI-powered cloud data
management, for USD8 billion. Atlassian’s acquisition of DX
Atlassian acquired DX, a market leader in engineer- ing intelligence, for USD1 billion, allowing the enti- ties to enable organisations to understand how their AI investments are helping teams accelerate and improve their work.
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