Meaning & use
horizontal merger
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Meaning
nouncountablebusiness
The joining of two companies that sell the same kind of product or service in the same market, so that former rivals become one firm.
Grammar: Regular plural: horizontal mergers.
Patterns
- a horizontal merger between X and Y
The horizontal merger of the two supermarket chains worried consumer groups.
Regulators blocked the horizontal merger because it would leave one dominant brewer.
A horizontal merger often cuts costs by removing duplicated departments.
Word forms
| plural | horizontal mergers |
|---|
Common combinations
- approve a horizontal merger
- The authority approved a horizontal merger after the firms sold some shops.
- block a horizontal merger
- Officials may block a horizontal merger that harms competition.
- announce a horizontal merger
- The two airlines announced a horizontal merger.
- horizontal merger between competitors
- A horizontal merger between competitors can raise prices.
- horizontal merger review
- The horizontal merger review took eight months.
Synonyms and how they differ
- merger
- Merger is the general word for any combining of companies, whereas horizontal merger names the specific case of direct competitors.
- consolidation
- Consolidation describes a whole industry shrinking into fewer firms, and can include more than one deal.
- takeover
- Takeover implies one company buys control of another, while a merger suggests a more equal joining.
- amalgamation
- Amalgamation is a formal, mainly British word for merging, without the competition meaning.
Opposites
Word family
- merge verb
- to combine into one
- merger noun
- the combining of companies
- horizontal adjective
- level, side to side
- vertical merger noun
- a merger between a company and its supplier or customer
Commonly confused: horizontal merger or vertical merger?
horizontal merger vs vertical merger
A vertical merger joins firms at different stages of the supply chain, such as a manufacturer and a supplier, while a horizontal merger joins direct competitors.
Practice
Two rival car-rental firms in the same city joined to form one company. This is a ____.
Choose one answer.
Competitors in the same market joining is a horizontal merger. A vertical merger joins firms at different supply stages, which is the tempting wrong answer.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “horizontal merger”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.