## TL;DR

Two different companies with similar names got merged on name similarity alone. Require domain or physical-address evidence for company merges, unmerge the bad pair if the platform allows, and restore the data from history. Company merges need stronger evidence than contacts.

## Error

```text
Data error: "Acme Industries" merged with "Acme Industrial Supply"  -  different domains, different addresses.
```

## Steps

1. Confirm the merge was wrong: compare domains, addresses, and phones of the pre-merge records from history. Expected: clear evidence of distinct companies.
2. Unmerge if the platform supports it; otherwise recreate the lost record from history and re-link children. Expected: two companies again.
3. Audit what was lost: overwritten fields, re-parented children. Expected: a damage list.
4. Restore field values and child links from history or backups. Expected: both records whole.
5. Raise the company merge evidence bar: normalized domain match required, name similarity alone never suffices. Expected: no repeat.

## When to use

- A bad company merge is discovered.
- An agent merges on similar names.
- After the merge, data looks wrong.

## When not to use

- True duplicate companies (merge correctly).
- Contact merges (different evidence).

## Tool compatibility

- Salesforce and HubSpot merge/unmerge; field history.
- Agent evidence policies.

## Variant phrasings

### similar names, different companies merged

Require domain evidence.

### bad company merge

Unmerge and restore from history.

## Why it happens

Company names are marketing, not identity: similar names are common, and domains and addresses are the real differentiators. Name-only company merging is the fastest path to data destruction.

## Edge cases

- Unmerge is not always available; backups and history are the safety net.
- Re-created records get new ids; update downstream references.
- DBA names ("doing business as") legitimately differ from legal names; check both.

## Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_ZV1EExk1i7S3gI_uHd6aFw