In the final quarter of 2025, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have taken the spotlight amid a late-year rally that has made for an almost record-breaking year. According to Reuters, 70 deals were made globally this year, each worth over 10 billion USD, and 22 of them occurred in the fourth quarter. This trend is expected to continue in 2026, with several very high-profile M&A deals involving major regional and global brands currently dominating the news.
On December 5, Netflix announced on social media that it was about to acquire Warner Bros. for 72 billion USD. Earlier this week, on December 17, Coursera and Udemy announced that they were merging to form a combined company expected to be valued at 2.5 billion USD. Meanwhile, closer to home, a Bloomberg article implied a long-awaited merger between Grab and GoTo was fueling rising GoTo stock prices.
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While these deals are still speculative or in early stages, they represent a race for scale in a competitive, cost-conscious world.
#1 Grab and GoTo
Grab and GoTo are two of Southeast Asia’s biggest tech companies. Grab, based in Singapore, started as a ride-hailing app and expanded into food delivery, digital payments, and financial services. GoTo, formed from the merger of Indonesia’s Gojek and Tokopedia, offers a similar mix of services.
The earliest discussion of a merger between Grab and Gojek began in 2020, but instead, Gojek merged with Tokopedia in 2021 to form GoTo. Since 2024, reports began emerging that Grab and GoTo were exploring a potential merger. However, in November this year GoTo announced a new CEO, Hans Patuwo who would start on December 17. It was outgoing GoTo CEO Patrick Walujo who reportedly opposed the deal with Grab.
The merger would create what Bloomberg describes as “a Southeast Asian tech sector powerhouse”, that had the backing of Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund Danantara. One analyst that Bloomberg spoke to suggested “a merged Grab and GoTo would probably control over 90% of Indonesia’s ride-hailing and food-delivery market”.
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#2 Coursera and Udemy
Online learning surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the boom has since cooled. Coursera and Udemy, two of the largest global platforms, have both faced slowing growth and rising competition from free content on YouTube, AI-driven learning tools, and corporate training platforms.
Both Coursera and Udemy are leaders in the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) industry with their merger expected to generate 1.5 billion USD in annual revenue, while eliminating 115 million in costs due to their complementary offerings.
According to the press release announcing the merger, the companies pointed to a “rapidly evolving global talent transformation market” that required a leading platform “to keep pace with technology acceleration”. This is achieved by uniting Udemy’s AI-powered skills development marketplace with Coursera’s world-class university ecosystem.
Read Also: Why I Took a SkillsFuture Course That Has Nothing To Do With My Job
#3 Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery
Yet perhaps no M&A story has captured the imagination more than when Netflix announced on its social media that it was in the process of acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery, in particular, their Streaming & Studios division, which includes film and television studios, for 72 billion USD.
This would effectively add Warner Bros. many entertainment franchises, including the DC universe, Game of Thrones, and many other HBO titles, to the ever-growing list of Netflix hits like Money Heist, Stranger Things, Squid Game and K-Pop Demon Hunters.
Netflix’s bid was immediately countered by another company, Paramount Skydance, which offered 108.4 billion USD to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in its entirety– effectively a hostile takeover. Paramount’s deal would also include Warner Bros. Global Linear Networks division, which includes its many television channels like the Discovery family of channels, CNN, Cartoon Network, and Animal Planet.
Earlier this week, on December 17, the Warner Bros. Discovery board rejected Paramount’s offer, considering it “inferior”. Netflix, meanwhile, has tried to assuage concerns from the movie industry by saying that they would be committed to cinema releases for movies under the Warner Bros. film studio.
There have also been suggestions that Netflix would continue to operate streaming service HBO Max separately, since there is a high overlap between Netflix and HBO subscribers.
What The M&A Race For Scale Signals
For business owners, these M&A moves reflect the pressures and possibilities of today’s economy. Staying relevant in business means thinking about scale, partnerships, and how to adapt when industry giants collide.
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