Major corporate mergers and acquisitions

Here are a few of the major M&As that have occurred or been attempted within the past year, including AT&T and T-Mobile, Exelon and Constellation Energy, and Comcast and NBC Universal.

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AT&T announced March 21 that it planned to buy its wireless rival T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom for $39 billion in cash and stock. The deal would have created the nation's largest wireless carrier. However, the companies dropped their application in November after the FCC said it was moving to block the deal. On Dec. 19, AT&T announced that it was dropping its bid to acquire T-Mobile.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Capital One Financial announced on June 16 that it will buy ING's U.S. online banking unit for $9 billion in a cash and stock deal.

Mark Lennihan / AP

Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, has agreed to purchase Skype for $8.5 billion. The purchase of the Internet telephone company marks the biggest acquisition in Microsoft's history.

Mario Tama / Getty Images

U.S. private equity firm Apollo Management struck a deal on May 10 to buy CKX, which owns pop talent TV show "American Idol," for about $510 million.

Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

Exelon agreed to buy Constellation Energy Group for $7.9 billion on April 28, which would make it the second-biggest residential utility in the U.S.

Robert Ray / AP

Johnson & Johnson, reeling from more than 50 drug and device recalls since the start of 2010, is trying to recapture its younger self by digesting Synthes. In April, Johnson & Johnson announced that it would buy the orthopedic company for $21.3 billion, the biggest purchase in its history.

Simon Dawson / Bloomberg

Dish Network won Blockbuster in a bankruptcy auction for about $320 million, boosting the satellite TV provider's online features and marketing reach. Dish, the second-largest U.S. satellite TV company after DirecTV, trumped at least three other bidders, including activist investor Carl Icahn, for the onetime leader in video rentals.

Rick Wilking / Reuters

General Electric announced March 29 that it planned to buy a majority stake in Converteam, a French equipment developer, for $3.2 billion.

Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

Warren Buffett's company said March 14 that it plans to spend about $9 billion cash to add specialty chemical maker Lubrizol to the eclectic mix of businesses inside Berkshire Hathaway.

Nati Harnik / AP

An exhaust vent fogs the air outside Genzyme's headquartrers in Cambridge, Mass. The French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis SA agreed Feb. 16 to buy Genzyme in an all-cash $20.1 billion deal after almost nine months of negotiations.

Josh Reynolds / AP

On Jan. 18, the FCC and Justice Department approved Comcast's acquisition of NBC, allowing for a joint venture that puts a vast library of television shows and movies under the control of the nation's biggest cable and broadband Internet service provider.

Chip East / Reuters

Duke Energy announced on Jan. 10 that it was purchasing Progress Energy for more than $13 billion. The deal would create the nation's largest utility company.

Nell Redmond / AP

Toronto-Dominion Bank in December agreed to buy Chrysler Financial Corp. from Cerberus Capital Management LP for $6.3 billion in cash, adding an auto-finance company in its second-largest acquisition.

Norm Betts / Bloomberg

Burger King Holdings Inc., the nation's perennially No. 2 hamburger chain, sold itself to little-known private equity firm 3G Capital in September in a deal valued at $3.26 billion.

Paul Sakuma / AP

Southwest Airlines announced in September its intent to purchase AirTran for $1.4 billion in cash and stock. The merger could position Southwest to become the dominant airline in the Washington area.

PRNewsFoto / AirTran Airways

On Oct. 12, Pfizer said it will buy King Pharmaceuticals, a company specializing in pain drugs, for $3.6 billion. The deal is Pfizer's largest since acquiring rival Wyeth last year for $68 billion.

Pfizer photo by AP / King photo by Bristol Herald Courier via AP

Intel announced its biggest acquisition in August when it agreed to by security giant McAfee for $7.68 billion. The move will help Intel improve the security of its chips.

Intel photo by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg / McAfee photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

In September, AOL announced its acquisition of Silicon Valley tech blog TechCrunch, whose founder Michael Arrington is shown. Executives and analysts say the deal will help AOL become a leading producer and distributor of Web content.

AOL photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post / Arrington photo by Noah Berger/Bloomberg

HP became the winner in one of the year's most heated bidding wars after it outbid rival Dell for data storage company 3PAR. HP bought 3PAR for $2.35 billion.

Photos by Paul Sakuma / AP

United and Continental completed their merger Oct. 1, forming the world's biggest airline.

Michael Stravato / AP

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