Mergers & Acquisitions: Six Corporate Marriages that Made History

In the world of business, getting bigger is always the goal, and a merger is a sign of a company's strength and continuing growth - go big or go home.

Recently two bigger-is-better business deals hit the news. First was the announcement by two of the largest book publishers, Random House and Penguin Books, that they're joining forces to become the world's largest consumer book publisher. A second deal happened when Disney announced it was going to acquire George Lucas' LucasFilms, home to the Star Wars franchise.

Are all mergers worth the headaches from all that paperwork? Not all, to be sure, but here's a list of those corporate mergers that made history and changed industries.

SLIDESHOW: SIX MERGERS THAT MADE HISTORY

1. Disney / Pixar - this merger of old school animation versus cutting edge has been a happy marriage, with recent successes such as Toy Story 3, Up and the recently released Brave.

2. Exxon / Mobil - these two giants of the oil industry signed their deal in 1999 for $82 billion, becoming the world's largest oil company and to date have maintained their status as number one.

3. Proctor & Gamble / Gillette - bringing the world of men's grooming into the household empire of P&G proved to be a $57 billion smart spend.

4. Pfizer / Warner-Lambert - the pharma giant went to bring its competition into the fold, as Warner Lambert had developed Lipitor, now the top selling prescription drug in the world.

5. Citicorp / Travelers Group - this stock swap was worth $70 million and with a market cap of $135 billion making it a happy payday for those involved.

6. Bell Atlantic / GTE - spending $53 billion to bring their competition into the fold, Bell Atlantic rebranded itself into Verizon, the successful communications/broadband company.