Template:Merger capsule

A merger is the combination of two or more companies into a single one, where one of the companies you started out with at the beginning is left at the end: this is the continuing entity. A takeover is really just a form of merger: the difference between them is really one of relative size. A bib bastard of a company takes over a smaller one; two similar sized companies merge. Either way, at the end, only one company remains. The other has dissolved itself into the stomach lining of its acquirer, its assets and liabilities slipping easily down the gizzard.