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All this the Gold Dust people have well known, plus the additional fact that John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his associates were inclined to sell their American Linseed stock. There were pourparlers and offers, so that last week Gold Dust's President George K. Morrow need merely put through a telephone call to the Rockefeller counsel. The talk was brief—a new corporation, Gold Dust American Corp., would be formed and for its stock the Rockefellers would exchange their American Linseed preferred stock. Minority preferred holders and the commonholders would have opportunity to trade their shares for the new company's stock. American Linseed (worth $37,687,500) plus Gold Dust (worth $29,464,300) together make a new approximately $67,000,000 organization.
When such mergers occur, the financing is usually the easiest part of the work. Much more difficult is whipping two sales organizations together. So difficult is this that some organizations keep original sales forces intact and separate. The Chrysler-(Dodge)-Dillon deal of last fortnight (TIME, June 11) is such a case. But with Gold Dust and American Linseed the problem is relatively simple. Both sell to the same grocers—cleansers and foods. Salesmen need add only a few loose leaves to their portfolios. But there are apt to be fewer salesmen than the two companies now separately employ.