What This Year’s Dealmaking Boom Means for 2026

WSJ What’s News

The Wall Street Journal

Daily News, News

4 • 4K Ratings

🗓️ 24 December 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Edition for Dec. 24. This year has been a big one for deals, with some blockbuster mergers and big-name breakups. WSJ lead deals reporter Lauren Thomas discusses what drove all that activity in 2025, and what she’ll be keeping her eye on in the year to come. Plus, the heirs to Texas billionaire Robert Brockman will pay $750 million in the biggest U.S. tax fraud case ever. And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposes a demilitarized zone in the eastern region of Donetsk as part of a potential peace deal. Alex Ossola hosts. Programming note: What’s News is publishing once a day through Jan. 2. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Some of the best lessons don't come from a classroom.
0:05.2	They come from experience.
0:07.0	On The Power of Advice, a new podcast series from Capital Group,
0:11.2	you'll hear from CEOs, investors, and founders about how they built careers,
0:16.4	took risks, and reinvented themselves.
0:19.2	If you're starting your own journey, this is the kind of advice you won't want to miss.
0:23.7	Available wherever you get your podcast.
0:26.4	Published by Capital Client Group, Inc.
0:33.4	After a roller coaster year for deals, we look at what's in store for 2026.
0:38.8	Watching Trump and what's going on down in D.C. is going to continue to be a huge factor in M&A market.
0:48.4	Plus, the heirs to a Texas billionaire will pay $750 million in the biggest U.S. tax fraud case ever. And the electricity
0:56.4	crisis in Ukraine has left some parts of the country in the dark for days. It's Wednesday,
1:02.4	December 24th. I'm Alex O'Sullough for the Wall Street Journal. We're on a holiday schedule in your
1:07.6	feed once a day, and this is what's news, the top headlines and business
1:11.4	stories moving the world today.
1:19.0	The estate of billionaire Robert Brockman has agreed to pay $750 million in back taxes and penalties,
1:26.0	settling a case that arose from what the U.S.
1:28.1	government called the biggest tax fraud charges ever filed against a person. The details were
1:33.3	revealed in a U.S. tax court filing yesterday. The IRS had been seeking $1.4 billion, including
1:39.7	interest in the case. Brockman was a wealthy Texas auto software entrepreneur who was known for his
1:45.3	penny-pinching ways, staying at budget hotels and eating frozen dinners in his room. He was indicted in
1:51.3	2020 on record-setting tax fraud charges. The government accused him of using a web of offshore
	...

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