Economic Definition of vertical merger. Defined.
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Term vertical merger Definition: The consolidation under a single ownership of two separately-owned businesses that have an input-output relationship, in which the output of one firm is the input of another. An example of a vertical merger would be a soft drink company merging with a sugar company to form a single firm. A vertical merger should be contrasted with horizontal merger--two competing firms in the same industry that sell the same products; and conglomerate merger--two firms in totally, completely separate industries.
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