O’Melveny Worldwide

Craig Menden

Partner

Newport Beach Office Silicon Valley Office
Areas of Focus
Areas of Focus
Mergers & Acquisitions
Emerging Companies
Overview Experience Insights News Credentials

Craig Menden is a partner in O’Melveny’s Mergers & Acquisitions Practice and Emerging Technologies Group. Craig focuses on complex M&A transactions involving technology and life sciences companies. His clients range from young startups to mature tech companies. Craig’s nearly 30 years of transactional experience includes more than 1,000 completed mergers and acquisitions with values ranging from tens of millions to nearly twenty billion dollars.

His practice covers a broad range of deal structures, including public company acquisitions and VC-backed private acquisitions. He also regularly represents parties in strategic investments, acquihires, tax free double mergers, and tender offers. In addition, Craig currently serves as Chair of the American Bar Association’s M&A Market Trends Committee.

Get to Know Craig

Get to Know Craig

  • Cisco Systems in its acquisition of ThousandEyes, Inc.
  • Cisco Systems in its acquisition of Voicea
  • Cisco Systems in its US$660 million acquisition of Luxtera
  • Cisco Systems in its US$635 million acquisition of OpenDNS
  • Cisco Systems in 15 additional acquisitions
  • Elemental Technologies in its US$330 million sale to Amazon.com
  • Funzio in its US$210 million sale to Gree International
  • Cadence Design Systems in its acquisitions, including its US$80 million acquisition of Sigrity
  • Intuit in its several acquisitions, including its approximately US$2.1 billion acquisition of Digital Insight Corporation, divestiture of Blue Ocean Software, and acquisitions of Applatix, Payvment and Itrios
  • Millennial Media in its US$250 million stock acquisition of Jumptap and its all cash acquisition of Metaresolver
  • Objet and Stratasys in its US$1.4 billion merger and its US$600 million in Stratasys stock acquisition of Makerbot
  • Periscope in its sale to Twitter
  • Postini in its approximately US$640 million sale to Google
  • Rovi Corporation in its US$1.1 billion acquisition of TiVo
  • SpookyCool Labs in its sale to Zynga
  • SteelBrick in its US$360 million sale to Salesforce
  • AlphaCore Pharma in its US$190 million sale to AstraZeneca
  • Loyale Healthcare in its sale to RevSpring
  • Volterra Semiconductor in its US$605 million sale to Maxim Integrated Products in a tender offer pursuant to the new §251(h) of the DGCL (the first transaction structured from inception under newly adopted §251(h))

Admissions

Bar Admissions

  • California

Education

  • University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, J.D., 1995
  • Brigham Young University, B.S., Business, 1992

Honors & Awards

  • Recognized by Best Lawyers in America for Corporate Law in Newport Beach, CA (2026)
  • Recommended by The Legal 500 US in the Mergers, Acquisitions and Buyouts – M&A: Large Deals ($1bn-5bn) (2018)
  • Named in Who's Who Legal for Mergers & Acquisitions (2018)
  • Recognized by Northern California Super Lawyer (2016-2018)
  • Order of the Coif, University of Utah School of Law (1995)

Professional Activities

Member

  • American Bar Association (M&A Market Trends Committee, Chair; Private Target Mergers & Acquisitions Deal Points Study, former vice chair of working group)
  • Charles Armstrong School (former Board of Trustees)

Co-Author

  • Co-Creator and Special Advisor to the American Bar Association and Hotshot Legal in their M&A “Market Check” video series available at https://www.americanbar.org/groups/business_law/about/membership/market-check/
  • “Annual Survey of Judicial Developments Pertaining to Mergers and Acquisitions: Brown v. Brewer,” The Business Lawyer (2011)
  • “Flip Transactions Revisited,” Venture Capital Review (2009)
  • “Private Target M&A Deal Points Study,” American Bar Association M&A Market Trends Committee (2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017)

Speaking Engagements

  • Chair, ABA M&A Market Trends Committee tri-annual meetings for five years until stepping down as chair of the committee in 2023
  • Moderator, “Middle Market Outlook,” 5th Annual Private Equity San Francisco Forum (October 26, 2022)
  • Moderator, “What’s So Different About Tech M&A?” The University of Texas School of Law CLE’s Mergers and Acquisitions Institute (October 6, 2022)
  • Chairman, 4th Annual Private Equity US Fall Forum (October 26-27, 2021)
  • Panelist, “Lessons Learned from the Most Heavily Litigated Provisions,” The University of Texas School of Law CLE’s Mergers and Acquisitions Institute (October 7, 2021)
  • “Materiality Scrape,” American Bar Association M&A Market Check Video Series (2020)
  • Panelist, “Trending Topics in Indemnification in Uninsured M&A,” The University of Texas School of Law CLE’s Mergers and Acquisitions Institute (October 9, 2020)
  • Panelist, “Digital Health M&A: A Survival Guide When the Worlds of Tech and Health Collide,” The University of Texas School of Law CLE’s Mergers and Acquisitions Institute (October 10, 2019)
  • Panelist, “Special Issues in Acquisitions of Venture Backed Companies,” The University of Texas School of Law CLE’s Mergers and Acquisitions Institute (October 4, 2018)
  • Moderator, “Trending Issues in Negotiation of Indemnification Provisions,” The University of Texas School of Law CLE’s Mergers and Acquisitions Institute (October 20, 2016)
  • Moderator, “Trending Issues in Negotiation of Indemnification Provisions,” The University of Texas School of Law CLE’s Mergers and Acquisitions Institute (October 16, 2015)
Related Practices
Corporate & Transactions
Emerging Companies
Mergers & Acquisitions
Related Industries
Internet
Life Sciences
Semiconductors