A merger can easily cost millions of dollars to execute. This include attorney’s fees on both sides, filing fees, retainers, commissions, and other associated expenses that come with dissolving two entities to create a new joint entity.
An acquisition can vary wildly in cost. In general, an acquisition is executed by acquiring more than 50% of a company’s stock, thus taking majority ownership of the thing. This means that the cost of an acquisition is at minimum the cost of acquiring 51% of a company’s stock. If the company is doing well, this could be millions or even billions of dollars. If the company is doing extremely poorly, this fee could sharply decline.