Mergers and acquisitions have become the most frequently used methods of growth for companies in the twenty first century. They present a company with a potentially larger market share and open it up to a more diversified market. A merger is considered to be successful, if it increases the acquiring firm’s value; most mergers have actually been known to benefit both competition and consumers by allowing firms to operate more efficiently. However, it has to be noted that some mergers and acquisitions have the capacity to decrease competition in various ways. To define this topic more clearly, research has shown, that due to increasing advances in technology and banking processes, which make transactions, among other aspects of business, more effective and efficient, mergers and acquisitions have become more frequent today then ever before. The topic of mergers and acquisitions is extremely complicated, with the numerous types of mergers that are out there today. It is also remarkably interesting, with the controversies and fierce price wars, which surround most mergers and acquisitions.