merger
[mur-jer]
- a statutory combination of two or more corporations by the transfer of the properties to one surviving corporation.
- any combination of two or more business enterprises into a single enterprise.
- an act or instance of merging.
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Origin of merger
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
uniontie-upunificationcombinationtakeoverallianceamalgamationcahootshookupfusioncoalitiontie-inincorporationorganizationlineuppoolmeldingmergenceExamples from the Web for merger
Contemporary Examples
The merger, if it comes off, would have major ramifications for the West.
When the fast food giant announced a merger with a Canadian chain, politicians wasted no time applying the special sauce.
Such positive trends are not going to be threatened anytime soon, even if and when the Comcast-Time Warner merger happens.
However, astronomers have spotted a few luminous black hole pairs, mostly in chaotic galaxies in the early stages of a merger.
It will get state governors to write letters supporting the merger.
Historical Examples
We find that every departure from one merger is entrance upon another.
The Book of the DamnedCharles Fort
This was the first trust—what they call a merger—but it occurred in politics.
As A Chinaman Saw UsAnonymous
After all, this was a day of merger, and you couldn't have too much of it!
The Forsyte Saga, Volume III.John Galsworthy
So a merger of the two seemed vital to the interests of both.
The Land of TomorrowWilliam B Stephenson, Jr.
St. John says that this merger was made at the instigation of the Mine Owners.
The I.W.W.Paul Frederick Brissenden
merger
- commerce the combination of two or more companies, either by the creation of a new organization or by absorption by one of the othersOften called (Brit): amalgamation
- law the extinguishment of an estate, interest, contract, right, offence, etc, by its absorption into a greater one
- the act of merging or the state of being merged
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for merger
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
merger
The union of two or more independent corporations under a single ownership. Also known as takeovers, mergers may be friendly or hostile. In the latter case, the buying company, having met with resistance from directors of the targeted company, usually offers an inflated (overmarket) price to persuade stockholders of the targeted company to sell their shares to it. Such mergers often have been financed by junk bonds.
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Note
Especially common in the 1980s, hostile takeovers have become highly controversial. Some contend that they bring needed infusions of capital and efficiency to the targeted company. Others argue that, having borrowed heavily to finance the merger, the buyer is forced to sell valuable assets of the targeted company to pay off its debt.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.