As of Jan. 23, 11 deals worth more than $5 billion were inked globally, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing Dealogic.
Here are four things to know about the record-breaking period.
1. During the same period of 2017, seven $5 billion-plus deals were unveiled, according to Dealogic.
2. The cumulative value of the deals announced within the period is $207 billion. This is the highest amount since 2000 for the same period, according to the report.
3. Fast-paced dealmaking follows recent U.S. tax reform, which lowered the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.
Curt Moldenhauer, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers' deals practice, told The Wall Street Journal, "January is only the beginning of what we see as a very robust 2018. Certainly with tax reform being announced, a big piece of the puzzle was solved."
4. Some of the big deals include Sanofi's $11.6 billion bid to acquire all outstanding shares of U.S. hemophilia drugmaker Bioverativ and biopharmaceutical giant Celgene's $9 billion purchase of Juno Therapeutics.