1.   As enrollment lagged and profits declined in the recession, production and marketing expenses were increasing and the major publishers started to merge to compete.

2.   Chemla predicted that more agencies would merge to compete for the so-called commission overrides.

3.   He noted that the merger will mean the biggest and the third-largest makers of commercial aircraft will merge to compete with Airbus, the European consortium.

4.   Banking industry analysts said the deal would put more pressure on other companies to merge in order to compete.

5.   Robert F. Starzel, vice chairman of Southern Pacific, said recently that Union Pacific and Southern Pacific need to merge to compete with BNSF.