A merger differs from an acquisition in that two companies decide to combine their activities in some form. On the other hand, in the case of an acquisition, one of the companies has a dominant position in the sense that it buys out the other entity. In fact, you can say that these mergers and acquisitions can be something similar, for example:

A merger could be that Company ABC buys 50% of the shares from Company XYZ in exchange for its 50% of the shares (of course, the agreement would be more complicated and would specify the value of these shares in a currency, but let's not go into details now).
An acquisition can be where Company ABC buys 51% of Company XYZ in exchange for currency... or for 5% of its shares (or shares). So company ABC takes power in company XYZ, while company XYZ acquires only a certain monetary value.

The merger will generally be associated with some form of cooperation and partnership agreement between the owners and/or management boards of the companies, depending on who made the decision on the merger (it could be a decision on one or the other level, depending on the situation). Acquisition is less partnership-based, it means taking over the entity and power, it may potentially involve replacing the management board by the one from the acquiring company, or replacing it (because two costly management boards may be unnecessary). Of course, as part of the merger, there could also be reshuffling...

A merger can also mean that two companies decide to directly "glue" their companies together, and we will find a number of ways to do that. For example, you can create a cap company to which key resources will be transferred, and the old companies will be left as either empty shells or for the implementation of some specific processes, e.g. as an accounting or distribution center. But it is also possible to imagine a situation in which the parties decide to implement a merger in the form of a takeover of one company by another in such a way that one company takes over all the assets and clients of the other, and the other, as an empty shell, is closed.

As you can see, the possibilities are many and I only licked the subject. However, I think that it is now easier to distinguish the specificity of a merger from an acquisition.

Co to jest fuzja?