Software buyouts, once highly prized in the private equity world, are said to have reached their lowest levels in six years.
The reason, according to what was published by the Financial Times on Monday (June 8): a reportThe specter of artificial intelligence (AI) disruption has brought deal-making to a halt in the software sector.
The value of software deals fell to $50 billion for the first five months of the year, from $88 billion during the same period in 2025, the report said, citing PitchBook data. The report added that this is the lowest total during the January-May period since the pandemic.
Industry executives tell the Financial Times that the sharp decline is a sign of certainty that AI will change software companies’ business models, as well as the challenge for buyout groups in separating profitable companies from losers.
“Until an investor knows what businesses might be worth adopting post-AI, it is impossible for them to make a case to their investment committee,” he said. Paul Noel Gilley to Arma Partnersa banking company specializing in technology.
The report added that in 2025, private equity firms made software acquisition deals worth $290 billion, the highest level in 11 years. However, this year is on track to be the weakest for deal-making in this sector since 2018.
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The Financial Times reports that fears of software companies being exposed to the threat of artificial intelligence increased at the beginning of the year when… Anthropic revealed a series of Productivity tools.
In addition, analysts say that the rise Artificial intelligence agentsThe report added that software that can perform routine tasks and replace traditional software could threaten business models based on the number of workers using certain software.
PYMNTS charted this changing landscape in a report last month, following a series of announcements from… OpenAIAnthropic and Amazon “This indicates the increasing emergence of a top-down software and enterprise services deployment model.”
“Technology is no longer being sold to one company at a time, but is being distributed across entire networks of companies in one fell swoop,” the report added. “It represents a playbook Can be reconfigured How Software Is Purchased, Implemented, and Competed for.”
The initiatives involved included Amazon’s launch of Amazon Supply Chain Servicesbrings shipping, distribution, fulfillment, and package shipping tools, previously available to Amazon merchants, to the broader business world.
The same day saw OpenAI announce this Raised $4 billion For a project known as The Deployment Company, it aims to get companies to adopt its AI tools.
Within hours of OpenAI’s announcement, Anthropic said it had launched its own sales effort AI tools for businessesin cooperation with Goldman SachsInvestment Group Blackstone and private equity firm Hellman and Friedman.
