Shareholder Activism Hits New Record as Investors Push for More Deals
By Scott Deveau and Jeremy Jacobs
Scott Deveau
Senior Managing Director
Jeremy Jacobs
Senior Managing Director
Shareholder activism rose to a new record in the first half of 2026 as investors increasingly pushed companies to be sold in what is regarded as a favorable market for mergers and acquisitions.
The global value of M&A deals is expected to reach $4 trillion in 2026, which would represent a 13% increase year over year and the strongest year since 2021.(1) While the overall number of deals announced has decreased year over year, the aggregate value of deals has ballooned in the first half of the year, with megadeals in excess of $5 billion accounting for nearly half of total deal value.
The market for high-value M&A is being driven in large part by the AI boom and the perception that the window may be closing to benefit from the Trump administration’s limited scrutiny of transactions.
Typically, a strong M&A market might be expected to translate into an increase in activists seeking to break up deals or push for a higher price. Instead, in the first half of 2026, shareholder activists have focused their campaigns on pushing for strategic reviews to potentially find buyers for all or part of their businesses.
Uptick in Activist Campaigns
Through June 26, activist shareholders launched a record 142 campaigns globally this year at companies with a market capitalization of more than $1billion.(2) That is up almost 14% from the number of similar campaigns launched in the first half of 2025, when the implementation of global tariffs by the U.S. administration roiled markets and sidelined activists. It is also slightly more than the previous peak in 2022, when activists launched 141 campaigns.
Many of the 2026 campaigns so far follow themes similar to those that emerged in 2025. CEOs are increasingly being targeted by activists, and more first-time or occasional activists are publicly challenging companies. However, there are some trends emerging in the first half of the year that have bucked the traditional themes in shareholder activism.
Activists Cool to Breaking Up Deals
Despite the value of deals spiking significantly in the first six months of 2026, activists launched only nine campaigns in the first half of 2026 with the expressed goal of opposing a merger or an acquisition, and two of those campaigns were launched at the same company, Warner Bros Discovery Inc., trying to break up its sale to Netflix. During the period, only one activist campaign led to a proxy fight that broke up a deal as Broadwood Partners successfully campaigned to block the sale of STAAR Surgical to Alcon in January.
This level of deal opposition is consistent with the nine deals that were opposed in the first half of 2025 but significantly below the average of 19 campaigns opposing M&A launched during the first six months of the five previous years. Campaigns opposing M&A that were launched in the first half of the year peaked at 35 in 2021, a record year for M&A.(3)
Many factors are likely contributing to the decline in campaigns being launched opposing transactions, including overall deal volume being down about 13% year to date, with fewer small- and mid-sized transactions.(4) The rise of megadeals has raised the barrier to entry for activists and, in turn, lessened their ability to influence outcomes. Should M&A transactions move down market in the latter part of the year, we would expect to see a corresponding uptick in activists targeting those deals to either break them up or call for better terms.
Companies should not take this to mean that their deals will not be challenged and should diligently ensure that the rationale and merits of transactions are clearly and concisely communicated to their various stakeholders. Even more importantly, issuers must know who their shareholders are and what their views are on any potential transaction before it is announced to help mitigate the chance of public opposition.
Increased Push for Sales, Strategic Reviews
The perception that the market is ripe for M&A has contributed to a spike in the number of activist campaigns in which the activist has pushed for a strategic review, including a sale or break up of target companies. In the first half of the year, activist investors launched 35 campaigns with the explicit goal of pushing for a strategic review.(5) That is nearly 46% higher than the number of campaigns with a similar goal started in the first half of 2025 (24) and higher than the average of 22 strategic review-driven campaigns launched for the same period over the previous five years.
Notably, when the market for M&A peaked previously in 2021, only 20 campaigns were launched seeking strategic reviews in the first half of that year. However, in the second half of that year and throughout the next year in 2022, the number of campaigns launched seeking a strategic review saw a steady and substantial increase. While by no means predictive, this precedent may indicate that more campaigns aimed at selling all or parts of target companies will be launched in the second half of 2026 and into 2027.
This risk is especially high for companies whose returns are viewed to be trailing their competitors and the market as a whole. To keep shareholder activists at bay, these companies need to actively communicate to shareholders the measures they are taking to improve returns for investors, demonstrate progress on those efforts, and engage in this process throughout the year, not just in proxy season.
Shift away from Governance Matters
As activists have focused more this year on M&A-related demands, they appear to have shifted away somewhat from typical governance themes, with fewer campaigns focused on board seats and executive compensation. Campaigns to remove directors (or withhold votes) fell to four from 12 in the first half of 2025, and board representation (25 campaigns in H126 versus 29 in H125) and compensation change demands (six in H126 versus 11 in H125) are both down.
Pace of Settlements Continues to Increase
Activist campaigns seeking board representation are increasingly likely to settle rather than go all the way to a shareholder vote, a trend that appears to be accelerating. In 2025, 144 campaigns settled, representing over 40% of all campaigns globally at all market cap levels, a significant increase from 2024, which saw 133 campaigns (or 34% of the total number of campaigns) reach a settlement. In the first six months of 2026, the settlement rate rose to 48% (78 of 165 campaigns YTD), with less than 34% going to a vote, below the percentage that did in 2025’s (35%) and 2024 (40%).(6)
The historically high rate of settlements likely reflects many factors, including the impact of the universal proxy card, greater acceptance of activism as a tool by a broader set of shareholders, increased awareness of the cost and reputational risk of a fight that proceeds to the shareholder meeting, and lingering uncertainty over changing SEC perspectives on communications with large passive funds and the role of proxy advisory services.
Activism advisors also report anecdotally that, driven by these same factors, settlements are occurring more quickly. However, a review of settlement data appears to show that time to settle has remained generally consistent in recent years. While early settlements can avoid a costly public fight, there are risks associated with settling too quickly, including the potential for either side to give up too much for peace. A coordinated campaign can greatly improve the chances of a settlement if both the company’s views and strategy and the activist’s demands are clearly articulated through their respective campaigns.
(1) https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/services/deals/trends.html
(2) Source: Bloomberg
(3) Source Bloomberg
(4) Ebit Footnote (1)
(5) Source: Bloomberg
(6) Diligent Market Intelligence