I would be leery of reading too much good news into the M&A stats…

Re this: “About 42 percent of the M&A deals struck during the second quarter provided returns that were four times the initial venture investment.” That's 42% of deals with *disclosed* amounts.

The % of M&A Deal amounts disclosed in the last quarter was the lowest it's been since at least '03–22% versus an average 44% for preceding years.

Looks like investors have adjusted their valuations… but are still a bit embarrassed about 'em

Here's my version of this type of journalism: Open Table opened at 29.26 and went to 27.15 (true facts but not reflective of the reality)