Instant Alert: These 7 big Internet companies are major acquisition targets, says Merrill Lynch

MANAGE SUBSCRIPTIONS   |   UNSUBSCRIBE   |   VIEW ONLINE   These 7 big Internet companies are major acquisition targets, says Merrill Lynch by Biz Carson on Jan 17, 2016, 9:51 AM 2016 will be a robust M&A market and there are several already public companies that might be ripe for picking, a new Merrill Lynch analyst note predicts. The large cash balances of large cap internet companies combined with the suddenly attractive small-cap valuations of others may contribute to an uptick in public companies cannibalizing each other.  Here are the seven companies that Merrill Lynch singled out in its analyst note as M&A targets for 2016.   SEE ALSO: These 20 VC-backed companies had the biggest exits of the last year Groupon Potential acquirers: Google Reasoning: "Groupon was a target of Google before it went public in 2012, has had recent management changes, and according to press reports some companies may still be interested." Merrill Lynch writes. "However, newly appointed CEO, Rich Williams, was quoted as saying the company has not received any takeover offers." Stock performance: In January 2014, Groupon traded for more than $11 a share. Two years later, the company is priced at $2.60, a 76 percent decline. Yelp Potential acquirers: Google, Yahoo, or Priceline Reasoning: "Yelp could be a good fit for Google, Yahoo and even Priceline per press articles. Its large user audience and advertiser base has taken years to build, and could be an interesting asset for companies trying to build a bigger mobile or local presence," Merrill Lynch wrote. Stock performance: At its high in March 2014, Yelp was trading for $98 a share. Since then, the company has lost nearly three quarters of its value and is listed for $22.15.  GrubHub Potential acquirers: Yelp or Amazon Reasoning: "GrubHub could be a fit with local services providers such as Yelp to support their own restaurant delivery businesses. In 2014, Nasdaq reported that Amazon could interested in acquiring GrubHub as a way to accelerate its expansion into new markets. Amazon operates its own local restaurant delivery service in select markets and could look at GrubHub as a way to accelerate its expansion into new markets," Merrill Lynch wrote. Stock performance: The drop-off for GrubHub didn't come until April 2015. Throughout 2014, GrubHub's stock rose from $34 to around $46 a share at its peak. Since April though, GrubHub has lost half its value and now trades around $21.  See the rest of the story at Business Insider   Share the latest business news with your network: Email sent to:   |   Manage your email preferences   |   Unsubscribe Terms of Service   |   Privacy Policy Business Insider. 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011