Discourses in media reporting play a central role to legitimate and justify M&As, yet we know little of the role collective emotions play in discourses. This paper examines collective emotions in discourses in media reporting on a French-Finnish merger by applying the PANAS-X scale and critical discourse analysis. The main findings imply that M&As triggers positive and negative emotional laden discourses which stem not merely from focal actors, but also their extended network and the media. The media reporting contains more positive emotions due to the dominance voice of acquisition supporters. The emotional tone of the media itself depends on the triggers under discussion which is influenced by the dominant voices and the unfolding of the M&A event. Besides, we ascertain that various triggers can have different and opposite appraisal outcomes. This paper contributes both to the literature on M&A and the literature on emotions.
