2,558 US companies moved on Corporate and M&A in September 2026

Across the US in September 2026, we counted 2,909 Corporate and M&A events at 2,558 companies: 1,587 capital raisings and 1,322 M&A events. The largest was Paramount's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which includes a regulatory settlement establishing a News Editorial Independence Board (The Wrap). On 30 September, Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery announced an anticipated closing date (PRN). Makan Delrahim, chief legal officer at Paramount, addressed the concern that the combination could “foreclose access to information”.

Antitrust review ran through the month. Transocean received Department of Justice approval for its acquisition of Valaris, clearing the final major regulatory hurdle (Seeking Alpha), and the DOJ extended its review of Fox Corporation's acquisition of Roku (Motley Fool). Strategic buyers closed deals at every size. Hormel Foods announced its acquisition of Brakebush Brothers (Seeking Alpha), Valley National Bank acquired Bluevine for $340 million (GN), RockawayX acquired the New York hedge fund Relayer (NewsBTC), and ReSpark bought ScrapRight, its third acquisition in six months (citybiz).

Capital came in large rounds. Temporal raised a $550 million Series E at a $12.55 billion valuation (Forkast News), and Novig closed a Series C at $2 billion, up from $500 million eight months earlier (Casino.org News). In debt, NCL Corporation priced $950 million in senior notes, upsized from a planned $750 million (GlobeNewswire), and CTO Realty Growth closed a $1.0 billion unsecured credit agreement (GlobeNewswire). Demand ran ahead of the offer. TXSE Group raised $155 million, taking total capital to $430 million (Ventureburn).

The demand category is Corporate and M&A, and for US law firms it lands in two places. The 1,322 M&A events create antitrust clearance and closing work, and the Paramount and Fox-Roku reviews show the regulatory leg now runs alongside the deal itself, with settlement terms such as an editorial independence board drafted into the transaction.

The 1,587 capital raising events create financing work for both issuers and lenders. Venture rounds such as Varda's $251 million sit beside credit facilities such as Carriage Services' $300 million revolver and Reed's $9.25 million refinancing. Medallion Bank's $55 million Series G preferred offering adds securities and underwriting work.

Earlier-stage mandates begin with companies such as MacKenzie Realty Capital, whose board is exploring strategic transactions including reverse takeovers, and Powerus, the defence technology company planning to go public. This matters to a firm's corporate and finance partners, who staff the work, and to its business development team, which faces 2,558 companies with a transaction need in one month. Repeat names carry the most work: Anthropic and Paramount each logged 6 events, and Amazon and OpenAI 5 each.