Mergers and Math Announce Their Conscious Uncoupling

Math and mergers have always had a love-hate relationship. This year, you could say they’ve consciously uncoupled.

Megadeals continue to sweep through the U.S., led by the media and health-care industries, while over at Tesla Inc., Elon Musk has revved up talk of a buyout transaction for the record books. Many of these deals have something in common, and it’s not just sky-high prices. They tend to be personality-driven negotiations that require spectators to put down their calculators and put faith in one person’s vision, whether the numbers precisely check out or not.