merger

merg·er | \ ˈmər-jər

Definition of merger

1 law : the absorption of an estate, a contract, or an interest in another, of a minor offense in a greater, or of a cause of action into a judgment

2a : the act or process of merging

b : absorption by a corporation of one or more others also : any of various methods of combining two or more organizations (such as business concerns)

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Examples of merger in a Sentence

The law firm announced its $50 million merger with one of its competitors. If the proposed merger of the two oil companies goes through, it would be bad for the economy.

Recent Examples on the Web Plans for a mega-merger between Walgreens and Fred's also collapsed in June 2017 amid federal antitrust concerns. — Nathan Bomey, USA TODAY, "More store closings in 2021? These are the most vulnerable major retailers of 2021 as pandemic continues," 30 Dec. 2020 At the league grew, games between the Lions and Giants decreased in frequency; ahead of the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, the Lions were 10-6-1 against the Giants. — Ryan Ford, Detroit Free Press, "Detroit Lions' blowout was bad, but they still have the edge over the Buccaneers," 29 Dec. 2020 Previous Saints record: 4, Joe Horn (2003, vs. Giants); Reggie Bush (2006, 49ers) Only two players since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970 had run for five rushing touchdowns in a game, the most recent in 2003 by Clinton Portis. — Jeff Nowak, NOLA.com, "Alvin Kamara's big Christmas: Saints star RB breaks or ties 5 records in 6-TD day vs Vikings," 25 Dec. 2020 Plans for the merger were first announced in March 2019 as part of efforts to improve transparency and regulation and tackle a high ratio of bad loans, driven mainly by the proliferation of unlicensed creditors. — Arsalan Shahla, Bloomberg.com, "Iran Completes Merger of Six Banks with Links to Military," 20 Dec. 2020 Pet subscription company BarkBox agreed to go public via merger with Northern Star Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company in a deal that will value the company at about $1.6 billion. — Lucinda Shen, Fortune, "Ahead of an IPO, Robinhood agrees to pay $65 million to settle SEC charges," 17 Dec. 2020 QuantumScape raised more than $700 million by going public via a reverse merger earlier this year. — Gabrielle Coppola And Akshat Rathi Bloomberg News, Star Tribune, "Volkswagen's battery bet shows it has potential to top Tesla," 12 Dec. 2020 Earlier this year, Deutsch approached Poster with the idea for the merger. — Chris Eggertsen, Billboard, "Randall Poster's Music Supervision Firm Search Party Acquired By Premier," 2 Dec. 2020 Eric Jackson, who was part of the leadership team for the merger, thought otherwise -- saying a search was necessary. — Rachel O'neal, Arkansas Online, "James William Chesshir Jr.," 27 Sep. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'merger.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

15 Jan 2021

Cite this Entry

“Merger.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/merger. Accessed 25 Jan. 2021.

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More Definitions for merger

merger

noun

English Language Learners Definition of merger

: the act or process of combining two or more businesses into one business

See the full definition for merger in the English Language Learners Dictionary

merger

noun

merg·er | \ ˈmər-jər

Kids Definition of merger

: the combination of two or more businesses into one

merger

noun

merg·er | \ ˈmər-jər

Legal Definition of merger

1 : the absorption of a lesser estate or interest into a greater one held by the same person — compare confusion

2 : the incorporation and superseding of one contract by another

3a : the treatment (as by statute) of two offenses deriving from the same conduct such that a defendant cannot be or is not punished for both especially when one offense is incidental to or necessarily included in the other a merger of offenses in a statute a merger of convictions

b : the doctrine according to which such offenses must be merged — compare double jeopardy

Note: Merger commonly involves the interpretation of statutes and legislative intent in deciding whether two or more offenses deriving from the same conduct remain distinct.

4 : a doctrine in civil litigation: a judgment in favor of a plaintiff incorporates and supersedes the cause of action and any claims based on it and requires that further litigation in the case by the defendant be concerned with the judgment itself — compare bar sense 3b, estoppel by judgment at estoppel sense 2a, res judicata

5 : the superseding of a prior agreement in a divorce case by the divorce decree

6a : the act or process of merging

b : absorption by one corporation of another also : any of various methods of combining two or more organizations (as business concerns) — compare consolidate

— cash merger

: a merger in which shareholders in the company to be absorbed receive cash for their shares rather than shares in the absorbing company a tender offer to be followed by a cash merger — see also cash out

— de facto merger

: a merger that is characterized by the issuance of stock to the corporation to be absorbed rather than an outright purchase of assets for cash, by continued participation of the shareholders, directors, and employees of the absorbed corporation, and by an assumption of liabilities by the absorbing corporation

Note: Shareholders in a de facto merger are considered to have the same right to an appraisal of the fair value of their shares as shareholders in a statutory merger.

— short-form merger

: an accelerated statutory merger between a subsidiary and a parent corporation that controls a large specified majority of shares in the subsidiary

— statutory merger

: a merger performed in accordance with relevant statutes that require specific procedures for the notification and approval of shareholders

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