MERGER MANIA

A period of time with significant merger and acquisition activity in the corporate world. While merger mania can refer to merger and acquisition activity in general, it often refers to increased merger and acquisition activity within a certain industry, such as with the airline or telephone company industries.

Mergers and acquisitions are corporate strategies that include the buying, selling and combining different companies. Companies seeking increased market share may aggressively merge with or acquire other companies. When mergers and acquisitions occur within a short period of time, the resulting business transactions can be referred to as merger mania.

Ivan Boesky, famous for the insider trading scandal that rocked Wall Street, authored a book entitled "Merger Mania: Arbitrage: Wall Street's Best Kept Money-Making Secret", that was published in 1985.