United States laws, like those of many other nations, prevent outright mergers of domestic and foreign airlines.

While foreign and American airlines could not engage in outright mergers, it appears that they could be jointly managed.

But his departure appears to pave the way for new leadership, and any joint venture could be a prelude to an outright merger.

This is apparently for strategic coordination, instead of an outright merger.

As part of the agreement, the NHL treated it more as an expansion rather than an outright merger.

Japanese chip makers are trying to snap out of this decline by joining forces, either by sharing factory construction costs or through outright mergers.

The Journal reported that an outright merger of the two companies was also being contemplated.

By the second year of contracting, consortia arrangements and outright mergers between districts to increase leverage and pool risk became increasingly common.

Either deal would seem to make a lot more sense than an outright merger of the two giants.

Many companies are considering mere alliances rather than outright mergers, at least for now.