Does a merger of two companies leave the consumer better or worse off? Why?

Question

Does a merger of two companies leave the consumer better or worse off? Why?

Answer 1

Mergers being a bad thing. It will lead to monopolies. Monopolies mean that the service you get will start to dwindle because there is no competition. Prices will go up, because you have no competition.

Answer 2

Not necessarily. If merger was to save one from bankruptcy or to provide it with needed financing, it might. If the two companies have been competitors and the merger is to avoid having to compete, it could be better or worse for the consumer. Why? If competition is threatening to destroy both, leaving the consumer out of a supplier, it can benefit the consumer. Too much competition can be as bad for the consumer as too little. But usually companies will learn to apply limits to their own predatory competition, and take the consumer's business for granted again.

When two companies have a lot of patents that could be best managed together, it can issue in a golden age of progress. That is how it will be sold, anyway.