In this study, we examine the association between bidders' media sentiment and the acquisition performance of 5196 domestic mergers and acquisitions across 40 countries from 2000 to 2018. Our results show a causal and positive relationship between media sentiment and the bidders' announcement returns. This supports the investor attention theory, suggesting that investors perceive bidders' media sentiment as informative and value-relevant. Using a dozen major terrorist attacks worldwide as exogenous shocks to business news, we establish a more credible causal link from media sentiment to market reactions. Our results are more pronounced for firms in a higher information asymmetry environment. Additionally, our study finds that higher levels of voice and accountability within a country mitigate the positive impact of media sentiment on bidder returns. We conduct additional robustness tests to further validate these findings and to address possible endogeneity concerns.