Other forms: mergers
A merger is two companies joining to become one. Two banks that had branches on the same corner, two local papers turning into a single masthead, two charities pooling their staff and losing half the job titles.
It takes between or with: a merger between the two firms, a merger with a rival. The difference from a takeover is worth holding on to — a merger is presented as a joining of equals, a takeover is one company buying another, and the press release will call it a merger either way. The verb is merge, and the phrase that fills the finance pages is mergers and acquisitions, shortened to M&A. It is not only business language: councils, unions, schools and departments merge too. Expect the word near job cuts, because a merger is where two of everything becomes one of everything.
1nounmergerThe joining of two companies or organisations into a single one.
“The merger created the largest supermarket chain in the country.”
synonyms: amalgamation, consolidation
2nouncombiningThe combining of two separate things into one.
“The merger of the two departments took a year to settle.”
merger is a joining of two organisations.
Merger came into English from Anglo-Norman, the French spoken in English courts after the Norman Conquest, where it was a verb meaning to merge. English kept the shape and turned it into a thing rather than an action. Law is full of these frozen French infinitives: waiver, disclaimer, remainder, merger.
Latin
mergō — to dip; dip in; plunge; sink down into; immerse; overwhelm
English
merge
English, today
merger
From merge + -er. merge Borrowed from Latin mergō (“to dip; dip in; plunge; sink down into; immerse; overwhelm”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA