How to Discuss a Deal in the News (With Current Examples)

Why Interviewers Ask About Deals in the News

"Tell me about a deal you've been following in the news" ranks among the most common and revealing questions in investment banking interviews. Unlike technical questions with right or wrong answers, this question evaluates multiple competencies simultaneously: your genuine interest in finance, ability to analyze transactions critically, communication skills, and awareness of market dynamics.

Interviewers ask this question because it efficiently separates candidates who passively want banking jobs from those who actively engage with the industry. Anyone can memorize DCF formulas or practice technical questions. But following deals requires sustained curiosity that extends beyond interview preparation. Candidates who can thoughtfully discuss current transactions demonstrate the intellectual engagement that characterizes successful bankers.

The question also tests how you think about complex situations. Deals involve strategic rationale, valuation considerations, financing structures, regulatory issues, and stakeholder dynamics. Your analysis reveals whether you can identify what matters, synthesize multiple factors, and communicate insights clearly. These skills directly predict your effectiveness in client meetings, deal team discussions, and written materials.

Perhaps most importantly, this question previews your future work product. Investment banking analysts constantly research companies, analyze transactions, and summarize findings for senior bankers. If you struggle to discuss a deal you chose to follow on your own time, interviewers question whether you will perform when asked to analyze deals under deadline pressure.

How to Select the Right Deal

Choosing which deal to discuss matters as much as how you discuss it. The wrong selection creates unnecessary difficulty, while the right choice showcases your strengths.

Characteristics of Good Deals to Discuss

Strategic complexity: Deals with interesting strategic rationales give you more to analyze. Transformative acquisitions, industry consolidation, cross-border transactions, or deals addressing specific competitive challenges provide richer discussion material than straightforward financial acquisitions.

Reasonable size and profile: Choose deals large enough to have meaningful coverage but not so famous that your analysis seems generic. A $10-50 billion transaction typically offers sufficient complexity and available information without being the single most discussed deal in the market.

Sector alignment: If you have expressed interest in specific industries, select deals in those sectors. This creates coherence in your narrative and demonstrates genuine focus. If you claimed interest in healthcare M&A, discussing a healthcare transaction reinforces your positioning.

Recent timing: Choose deals announced within the past 6-12 months. Older deals suggest you prepared a stale answer rather than actively following markets. Deals that are too recent may lack sufficient information for meaningful analysis.

Available information: Ensure enough public information exists for substantive analysis. Announced deals with investor presentations, press coverage, and analyst commentary provide material for informed discussion.

Deals to Avoid

Hostile situations with uncertain outcomes: Unless you can discuss nuances confidently, hostile bids with evolving dynamics create risk of outdated information.

Highly technical transactions: Complex restructurings, SPACs, or unusual structures may lead to technical questions you cannot answer.

Politically sensitive deals: Transactions with significant political dimensions can lead to uncomfortable territory.

Deals involving the interviewing firm: Unless you can discuss thoughtfully without seeming to pander, avoid deals where your interviewer's firm advised.

The single most famous deal: Everyone discussing the same transaction makes your analysis seem generic rather than distinctive.

Building a Portfolio of Deals

Prepare two to three deals across different sectors and deal types. This provides flexibility to choose the most relevant transaction for each interview context. If interviewing with a bank strong in technology, lead with a tech deal. If the interviewer mentions restructuring experience, having a restructuring example available demonstrates range.

Get the complete guide: Download our comprehensive 160-page PDF covering behavioral questions, deal analysis frameworks, and interview strategies. Access the IB Interview Guide for complete preparation.

Framework for Analyzing Any Deal

Structure your deal discussion using a consistent framework that covers the essential elements interviewers expect.

Transaction Overview

Start with the basic facts presented concisely:

Keep this section brief. Interviewers do not need every detail; they want to confirm you know the basic facts before hearing your analysis.

Strategic Rationale

This is the most important section. Explain why the deal makes strategic sense from the buyer's perspective:

Synergy opportunities: What cost or revenue synergies does the buyer expect? Are these realistic or aggressive? How do they compare to typical synergy assumptions in this sector?

Strategic positioning: How does the acquisition change the buyer's competitive position? Does it address a specific vulnerability, expand into new markets, or consolidate industry structure?

Capability acquisition: What capabilities, technologies, or talent does the target bring that the buyer lacks or wants to strengthen?

Defensive considerations: Is the deal partly defensive, preventing a competitor from acquiring the target or responding to industry disruption?

Strong candidates articulate nuanced strategic rationale rather than simply restating press release language. Demonstrate you have thought critically about why this transaction makes sense.

Valuation Considerations

Discuss the financial dimensions of the transaction:

Premium analysis: What premium was paid over the unaffected stock price? How does this compare to precedent transactions in the sector?

Implied multiples: What EV/EBITDA, EV/Revenue, or other relevant multiples does the transaction imply? How do these compare to where the target traded before announcement and to comparable transactions?

Synergy support: Do the announced synergies justify the premium? If the buyer is paying a 30% premium, they need significant synergy value creation to make the math work.

Accretion/dilution: For stock deals, is the transaction expected to be accretive or dilutive to buyer EPS? On what timeline?

You do not need precise numbers for everything, but demonstrating awareness of valuation dimensions shows analytical sophistication.

Key Risks and Challenges

Every deal has risks. Identifying them demonstrates critical thinking:

Integration risk: How complex is the integration? Are there cultural differences, system incompatibilities, or execution challenges?

Regulatory risk: Does the deal require antitrust approval? Are there other regulatory hurdles? What is the likelihood of required divestitures or deal blocking?

Financing risk: How is the deal financed? Does the buyer have the capacity? Are there market condition dependencies?

Synergy execution risk: How realistic are the synergy assumptions? What is the track record of similar integrations?

Stakeholder issues: Are there employee, customer, or other stakeholder concerns that could affect deal success?

Discussing risks shows you can evaluate transactions critically rather than accepting management presentations at face value.

Your View

Conclude with your perspective on the transaction:

Overall assessment: Do you think this is a good deal for the buyer? Why or why not?

Key success factors: What must go right for the deal to succeed?

What you find interesting: What aspect of the transaction engaged you? Why did you choose to follow this deal?

Having a view demonstrates conviction and analytical confidence. Interviewers may probe your reasoning, so be prepared to defend your position.

Current Deal Examples (2024-2025)

Here are several recent transactions that illustrate different deal types and analytical considerations. Use these as models for structuring your own analysis.

Capital One Acquisition of Discover Financial Services

Transaction Overview: Capital One announced its acquisition of Discover Financial Services in February 2024, with the deal closing in May 2025. The all-stock transaction valued Discover at approximately $35.3 billion, representing a roughly 26% premium. The combined company creates one of the largest credit card issuers in the United States.

Strategic Rationale: This deal represents significant network acquisition and vertical integration. Capital One primarily issues cards on Visa and Mastercard networks and pays interchange fees to those networks. By acquiring Discover, Capital One gains ownership of the Discover Network, allowing it to potentially migrate volume to an owned network and capture interchange economics currently flowing to competitors.

The deal also provides scale benefits in an industry where size drives profitability through data advantages, marketing efficiency, and risk management capabilities. The combined company will have over 70 million cardholders and enhanced ability to compete with JPMorgan Chase and American Express.

Valuation Considerations: The 26% premium reflects both Discover's standalone value and synergy potential. Management announced expected synergies of $2.7 billion annually, though achieving these requires successful network migration and integration. At roughly 9x earnings, the transaction multiple appeared reasonable for a financial services combination with significant synergy opportunity.

Key Risks: Regulatory approval represented the primary uncertainty, given the combination creates a significant player in consumer lending. The deal required approval from multiple banking regulators and faced antitrust scrutiny regarding competitive effects in the credit card market. Integration of two distinct corporate cultures and technology platforms also presents execution risk.

Assessment: This transaction represents a bold strategic move to reshape Capital One's competitive position through network ownership. The synergy math appears achievable given network economics, but execution risk is meaningful. The deal fundamentally changes Capital One's business model and competitive dynamics in consumer payments.

Mars Acquisition of Kellanova

Transaction Overview: Mars announced its acquisition of Kellanova (the snacking spinoff from Kellogg's) in August 2024 for approximately $35.9 billion including debt, representing roughly $83.50 per share. Goldman Sachs advised Kellanova on what became one of the largest consumer deals of 2024.

Strategic Rationale: This transaction dramatically expands Mars's presence in snacking, a category with superior growth characteristics compared to traditional confectionery. Kellanova brings brands including Pringles, Cheez-It, Pop-Tarts, and Eggo, complementing Mars's existing portfolio of M&Ms, Snickers, and other candy brands.

The strategic logic centers on category diversification and geographic expansion. Snacking is growing faster than confectionery globally, and Kellanova provides strong positions in markets where Mars has less presence. The combination creates a broader platform to compete with larger food companies like PepsiCo and Mondelez.

Valuation Considerations: The transaction valued Kellanova at approximately 16x EBITDA, a premium to where Kellanova traded before acquisition speculation but in line with precedent snacking transactions. The premium reflects both strategic value to Mars and competitive dynamics, as Mars likely needed to pay up to preempt other potential acquirers interested in Kellanova's attractive brand portfolio.

Key Risks: Integration of Kellanova's North American snacking business with Mars's global confectionery operation presents meaningful operational complexity. The companies have different distribution systems, customer relationships, and organizational cultures. Achieving synergies requires navigating these differences while maintaining brand momentum across both portfolios.

Assessment: This deal represents a transformative move for Mars, significantly expanding beyond its confectionery core into faster-growing snacking categories. The price is substantial, but the strategic logic is compelling given snacking category dynamics and Mars's need to diversify. Success depends on effective integration while preserving Kellanova's brand equity and operational effectiveness.

Google Proposed Acquisition of Wiz

Transaction Overview: Google announced a proposed acquisition of cybersecurity company Wiz in early 2025 for approximately $32 billion, representing what would be Alphabet's largest acquisition ever. Wiz is a cloud security company that achieved remarkable growth since its founding in 2020.

Strategic Rationale: This acquisition addresses Google Cloud's competitive position in cloud security, increasingly critical as enterprise cloud adoption accelerates. Wiz's platform provides visibility across multi-cloud environments, including competitors' clouds, making it valuable regardless of which cloud platform customers use.

The deal reflects the intensifying cloud competition between Google, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure. Security has become a key differentiator in enterprise cloud decisions, and acquiring Wiz would strengthen Google Cloud's security offering relative to competitors. Wiz's ability to secure workloads across all major clouds also provides Google insight into competitor environments.

Valuation Considerations: The $32 billion valuation represents an extraordinary premium for a company reportedly generating approximately $500 million in annual recurring revenue, implying a revenue multiple above 60x. This premium reflects Wiz's exceptional growth trajectory, strategic value to Google's cloud business, and competitive dynamics where multiple strategic acquirers likely showed interest.

Key Risks: Regulatory scrutiny represents the primary concern. Alphabet faces ongoing antitrust challenges, and regulators may view large acquisitions skeptically. The deal requires navigating both U.S. and international regulatory processes. Additionally, Wiz's multi-cloud positioning, which makes it valuable, may be affected by Google ownership if customers fear preference toward Google Cloud.

Assessment: This transaction illustrates how strategic imperative can justify valuations that traditional metrics would consider extreme. Google is paying for growth trajectory, strategic positioning, and competitive defense rather than current financials. The deal makes sense strategically, but execution depends on regulatory approval and maintaining Wiz's multi-cloud credibility under Google ownership.

Constellation Energy Acquisition of Calpine

Transaction Overview: Constellation Energy announced its acquisition of Calpine Corporation in early 2025 for approximately $26.6 billion, creating one of the largest power generation companies in the United States. The transaction combines Constellation's nuclear fleet with Calpine's natural gas generation portfolio.

Strategic Rationale: This deal creates a diversified clean energy platform capable of serving growing electricity demand, particularly from data centers supporting AI development. Constellation's nuclear plants provide carbon-free baseload power, while Calpine's efficient natural gas plants provide dispatchable capacity that complements intermittent renewable generation.

The strategic logic reflects the energy transition and AI-driven demand growth. Data centers require reliable, increasingly clean power. The combined company can offer customers both clean energy credentials and reliable supply, positioning it to capture the substantial investment flowing into data center development.

Valuation Considerations: The transaction valued Calpine at a meaningful premium reflecting synergy expectations and strategic value. The combination creates opportunities for operational synergies through shared functions and potential commercial synergies through coordinated power marketing. The deal also positions the combined company for potential policy benefits supporting clean energy and domestic power generation.

Key Risks: Regulatory approval in power markets requires navigating complex federal and state processes. Integration of two large generation fleets involves operational complexity. Commodity price volatility in natural gas and power markets creates ongoing earnings variability. Policy uncertainty regarding energy transition and data center development adds strategic risk.

Assessment: This transaction reflects the changing dynamics in power markets as AI and electrification drive demand growth after years of relatively flat consumption. The strategic combination of nuclear and gas generation positions the company for multiple scenarios while providing immediate operational scale. Success depends on regulatory approval and effective integration of generation operations.

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What to Emphasize for Different Deal Types

Different transaction types call for different analytical emphasis.

Strategic M&A

Financial Sponsor Transactions

Cross-Border Transactions

Industry Consolidation

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Reciting Facts Without Analysis

Weak: "Company A acquired Company B for $20 billion. Company A is in the technology sector and Company B makes software. The deal was announced in March."

This demonstrates you read a headline, not that you analyzed the transaction. Interviewers want insight, not recitation.

Better: "While the $20 billion headline price seemed aggressive at 15x revenue, I think it reflects Company A's recognition that organic development of Company B's capabilities would take years and leave them competitively disadvantaged. The premium is essentially the cost of time compression in a market moving quickly."

Not Having a View

Summarizing others' opinions without forming your own shows limited analytical confidence. Take a position on whether the deal makes sense, then prepare to defend that view.

Choosing an Obscure Deal

Selecting a tiny transaction no one has heard of may seem clever but often backfires. Interviewers cannot assess your analysis if they have no reference point. Choose deals prominent enough that your interviewer likely has context.

Outdated Information

Discussing a deal announced 18 months ago suggests stale preparation. Choose recent transactions and stay current on developments. If discussing an announced deal, know whether it closed, is pending, or faced issues.

Overcomplicating the Answer

You do not need to discuss every aspect of a transaction. A focused, insightful analysis of key dimensions is better than superficial coverage of everything. Aim for depth over breadth.

Handling Follow-Up Questions

Interviewers often probe your deal discussion. Prepare for common follow-ups.

"What would you change about the deal?"

Consider what you might structure differently: different price, different deal structure, different approach to integration, etc. Having constructive criticism demonstrates analytical depth.

"How would you advise the buyer's board?"

This asks you to take a perspective. Discuss key considerations you would highlight: strategic fit, valuation support, risk factors, and your overall recommendation.

"What do you think happens with this deal?"

If the deal is pending, express a view on likely outcome. If discussing regulatory risk, what is your probability assessment for approval? If discussing integration, what does success or failure look like?

"What other deals does this remind you of?"

Connecting to precedent transactions shows market awareness. Be prepared to reference similar deals and discuss how they inform your view of the current transaction.

"What does this deal tell us about the industry?"

Zoom out to discuss broader implications. What does this transaction signal about industry dynamics, competitive positioning, or market trends?

Building Deal Knowledge Over Time

Effective deal discussion requires ongoing engagement, not last-minute preparation.

Daily Habits

Spend 15-20 minutes daily reviewing financial news. Read the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, or Bloomberg coverage of deal announcements. Over time, this builds context that makes individual transactions easier to understand.

Deal Databases

Track announced transactions through resources like Bloomberg, Capital IQ, or Dealogic if you have access. Understanding deal flow patterns helps contextualize individual transactions.

Earnings Calls and Investor Presentations

When major deals are announced, review the investor presentations and listen to management discussions. These provide insight into strategic rationale beyond press release summaries.

Analyst Commentary

Read equity research commentary on announced deals if accessible. Analysts often provide valuation context and identify issues worth considering.

Following Specific Sectors

Deep knowledge in one or two sectors makes deal discussion easier. If you follow healthcare consistently, you will naturally understand transactions in that space better than someone encountering the sector for the first time.

For additional context on sector-specific banking, see our guide on healthcare investment banking.

Key Takeaways

Conclusion

Discussing a deal in the news effectively requires more than superficial awareness of recent transactions. It demands genuine analytical engagement with how deals work, why companies pursue them, and what determines success or failure. This engagement cannot be manufactured for interviews; it must be developed through sustained interest in markets and transactions.

Start building your deal knowledge now if you have not already. Follow financial news daily. When major transactions are announced, read beyond headlines to understand strategic rationale and market reaction. Form views on whether deals make sense and why. Practice articulating those views clearly and concisely.

When interview time arrives, you will have internalized frameworks and market context that make deal discussions feel natural rather than rehearsed. That genuine comfort with transaction analysis distinguishes candidates who will thrive in investment banking from those who merely want the job title. It is exactly what interviewers hope to find when they ask you to discuss a deal you have been following.