China witnessed a surge in cross-border M&A activities from 1998 to 2015, peaking during the years 2015 to 2018, followed by a substantial decline in both frequency and volume in recent 5 years. Beyond widely recognized macroeconomic factors like increasing geopolitical tensions (Yu, 2020), the Chinese government’s deleveraging campaign (Lardy, 2019; Irwin-Hunt, 2023), and heightened scrutiny by Western countries on Chinese acquisitions in sensitive sectors (Irwin-Hunt, 2022), my study provides additional insight into why cross-border M&A activities have slowed: Chinese companies may be recognizing that, seeking inorganic growth overseas is simply not an effective approach to boost financial performance, as those activities fail to create incremental return on its total assets.