Special merger section on BHP website: Anyone visiting BHP or Billiton's website that day was quickly alerted to news of the deal.

Billiton's site used a scrolling text link at the bottom of the homepage to link visitors to a presentation page where they could access the press release, view the Australia or UK webcast and download the presentation. A detailed explanation of the deal was made available in MSWord downloads in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

Billiton's merger presentation page provides information in several formats and languages

BHP's homepage featured a prominent article that was above the fold that dominated more than half the page. This was linked to a special "BHP-Billiton" merger site featuring a rich array of information on both companies.

Details of the merger were clearly sign-posted on BHP's homepage.

A photograph of the two CEOs shaking hands was prominent and set the tone for the merger page. The photo was later replaced by another showing the two executives engaged in discussion. Also prominent was the merger tagline: "strength : flexibility : growth."

Highlights on the merger site included:

• One-minute video clips of each CEO commenting on the merger's strategic rationale.

• Links to the news release, merger highlights, merger rationale, BHP key facts, Billiton key facts, the analyst presentation materials and the investment community webcast.
  
  
• A form to sign-up for email alerts about developments in the merger.
  
  
• A list of BHP and Billiton IR and media relations contacts, including their email addresses, direct phone number and even their cellphone numbers!
  
  
• Details of the merged company's new executive team with links to their resumes.
  
  
• A Q&A section answering key questions shareholders were likely to have about the transaction.

The BHP-Billiton merger page presented an unified message and showed the two CEOs getting down to business

The market reacts: Despite the earlier negative comments from analysts before the official announcement, shares of BHP climbed immediately on the opening of trading on the Sydney Stock Exchange. Later in the US, BHP ADRs also climbed higher. At the close, the Australian shares were up 2% while the ADRs closed 4% higher.

Trading in Billiton was more enthusiastic due to the structure of the deal and speculation that a counter bid might be made for the company. The shares closed up 13% in London after earlier climbing almost 20%.

The AmeriSource-Bergen Brunswig merger

Announcement crosses the wire: At 7:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Monday, March 19, a joint news release announcing the merger was sent out by Business Wire. The 2,000-word release was headlined: AmeriSource and Bergen Brunswig to Combine, Creating a $35 Billion Healthcare Services Company.

Rather than using bullet points to explain the rationale and cost-saving synergies that would result from the merger, information in the release was presented in long quotes from the companies' CEOs, Robert E. Martini of Bergen Brunswig and R. David Yost of AmeriSource. This made finding key details of the deal more difficult that with the BHP-Billiton news release.

The level of detail was also much less than in the case of the BHP-Billiton deal. As well, the first paragraph of the release was inconsistent with its headline. While the head referred to the merger as creating a $35 billion enterprise, the lead paragraph said the combined companies would have a total capitalization of $7 billion. The larger figure in the headline referred to the combined annual revenues of the companies.