Deals
Have Dealmakers Wised Up?
Acquiring companies seem to be taking a closer look at prospective targets -- and paying less
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By David Henry
With big names, big dollars, and big payouts, deal-making is back on Wall Street. Following a runup of deals toward the end of last year, U.S. companies announced more than $144 billion worth of mergers and acquisitions in the first 40 days of 2005 -- the fastest start since 2000, according to Thomson Financial. SBC Communications' (SBC ) $16 billion deal for AT&T (T ) on Jan. 31 was followed just days later by Qwest's (Q ) $6.3 billion bid for MCI (MCIP ).