The Deal

About The Deal

The Deal is a New York-based financial news service covering mergers, acquisitions, private equity, and dealmaking, widely regarded as the leading source of forward-looking intelligence for deal professionals. Founded in 1999 by legendary dealmaker Bruce Wasserstein, the publication was created to report on the news, people, and tactics surrounding the deal economy with the same level of detail and excitement as a sports publication. The Deal generates original daily articles, commentary, and data covering finance and business through the lens of dealmaking, with core coverage areas including mergers and acquisitions, private equity, venture capital financings, shareholder activism, restructuring, and bankruptcies. Its flagship product, The Deal Pipeline, is a transaction information service tracking merger-related intelligence for investment bankers, private equity professionals, lawyers, and hedge fund managers. The publication's ownership has changed hands several times, from Wasserstein & Co. to TheStreet.com to Euromoney Institutional Investor and then to With Intelligence, and its about page describes it as a With Intelligence company now part of S&P Global.

Founding by Bruce Wasserstein

In 1999, legendary dealmaker Bruce Wasserstein launched The Deal to report on the news, people, and tactics surrounding the deal economy, the set of interrelated deal activities driving corporate growth in a continually changing global market. The inspiration struck from his coverage of the RJR-Nabisco merger, the defining leveraged buyout battle of the 1980s, which convinced him that the deal economy deserved coverage with the same detail, analysis, and excitement as a sports publication. The roots of the media company began when The Daily Deal was launched in September 1999 by American Lawyer Media with strong support from Wasserstein. In March 2000, ALM sold the assets of the Deal to U.S. Equity Partners, a private equity fund sponsored by Wasserstein & Co., the investment firm Wasserstein founded. In December 2000, Rustic Canyon Ventures, a Southern California venture capital firm, led a $30 million venture round of financing, giving the young publication substantial capital to build its newsroom and data operations.

The magazine era

The Deal published as a print magazine from its September 1999 first issue, appearing bimonthly under editor-in-chief Robert Teitelman and building a circulation of 40,000. The magazine featured stories about individual deals, profiles of bankers, and trends in the world of mergers, chronicling the personalities and tactics of the deal economy in long-form journalism. At its peak, the company employed more than 120 people, including 70 full-time journalists based in the New York headquarters with bureaus across the United States and in London. The print publication captured the go-go years of private equity and M&A, documenting the transactions and the dealmakers who defined an era of financial engineering. The magazine's final print issue appeared in September 2012, closing a 13-year run as one of the distinctive business publications of its generation.

The Deal Pipeline

The Deal Pipeline is the company's transaction information service, a database tracking merger-related information that Wall Street investors and dealmakers pay to access. The Pipeline exemplifies the publication's dual identity as both a journalism operation and a data business: alongside its articles and commentary, it maintains structured intelligence on deals, dealmakers, and firms. Across its product lineup, which includes league tables, special reports, alerts, people coverage, company databases, articles, and email newsletters, the company's team of journalists, data analysts, and product developers delivers daily coverage and analysis of the deal economy's people and firms. The subscription products embed the publication's intelligence in dealmakers' daily workflows, giving subscribers the analytic perspective they need to stay ahead of the competition. Sister company PrivateRaise, an alternative investment database added along with DealFlow Media's Life Settlements and PIPEs reports, extends the data franchise.

Acquisition by TheStreet

In September 2012, TheStreet Inc., the financial news website co-founded in 1996 by Jim Cramer, bought The Deal from Wasserstein & Co. for $5.8 million, according to a U.S. regulatory filing. TheStreet said the purchase would boost its reader base with more paid subscribers and increase the depth of its content; at the time, The Deal had about 40,000 subscribers and published the popular Deal Pipeline. After the acquisition, TheStreet closed the print magazine, and all of The Deal's publications became digital-only. The sale reflected the pressures facing business media: like many media companies, TheStreet and The Deal had struggled as the financial industry pulled back on costs, and print advertising revenue was falling across the industry. Bruce Wasserstein, who died in 2009, had been known as a patron of journalism, and his investments had included New York magazine alongside The Deal.

Euromoney and With Intelligence

In 2018, TheStreet announced the sale of BoardEx and The Deal to Euromoney Institutional Investor, moving the publication into the portfolio of the London-based financial information group. The Deal subsequently became part of With Intelligence, the financial data and intelligence business backed by Motive Partners: in 2023, Motive Capital Management acquired a majority stake in With Intelligence from Intermediate Capital Group, and With Intelligence acquired The Deal as part of its expansion. In November of that period, With Intelligence also acquired SPS, formerly Sutton Place Strategies, from Bain & Company. Through these transactions, The Deal continued Bruce Wasserstein's legacy of delivering first-in-class intelligence and data to the deal community, now with the backing of institutional investors focused on technology-enabled financial information businesses.

Coverage pillars

The Deal organizes its journalism around the core pillars of activism, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and restructuring. Its reporters cover the full lifecycle of deals: rumors and announcements, financing structures, shareholder activism campaigns, bankruptcy proceedings, and the career moves of the bankers, lawyers, and investors who execute transactions. The publication's audience spans investment banking, private equity, legal, hedge fund, and venture capital professionals who rely on its forward-looking intelligence to anticipate market developments. The Deal's power rankings, special reports, and events, including its recognition of top women in dealmaking, extend its influence beyond daily news into the industry's professional community. Its network of events brings dealmakers together, reinforcing the publication's role as a hub of the deal economy rather than merely an observer of it.

Editorial leadership

The Deal's newsroom has been led by editors steeped in financial journalism, beginning with founding editor-in-chief Robert Teitelman, who shaped the magazine's voice through its print era. In its current incarnation, Michael Brown serves as content director, overseeing the team of journalists, data analysts, and product developers who produce the publication's daily output. The newsroom's journalists cover beats across the deal economy, from M&A and private equity to activism and restructuring, with bureaus and correspondents serving a global audience of deal professionals. The editorial operation's longevity, more than two decades of continuous coverage, has made it an institution in financial media, with alumni across the business press and a reputation for breaking news on transactions.

Awards and industry standing

The Deal describes itself as an award-winning financial news organization, and its journalism has been recognized within the business press for its coverage of the deal economy. Since its founding, it has provided up-to-the-minute news, analysis, and perspective to dealmakers across the globe through its network of events, subscription products, and power rankings. The publication's standing among deal professionals rests on its specialization: where general business outlets cover deals as one beat among many, The Deal covers nothing else, giving it depth and sourcing advantages in the transaction world. Its league tables and rankings are watched as measures of standing within the industry, and its reporting frequently drives the conversation on major transactions.

Website and current status

The Deal publishes at thedeal.com, where its articles, data products, and subscription offerings serve dealmaking professionals worldwide. With more than 20 years of coverage in its historic database, the publication continues to operate as the leading source of intelligence on the deal economy under its current ownership. From Bruce Wasserstein's 1999 vision of covering deals like sports, through the magazine era, the digital transition under TheStreet, and its current incarnation as a data-driven intelligence business, The Deal has remained focused on the transactions, people, and tactics that drive corporate growth. Its evolution mirrors the broader transformation of financial media from print magazines to integrated data and journalism platforms.