Around 340 workers – mainly in the US – learned what the word synergies really means when their jobs were axed following the $420m merger between on-line information provider Maid Plc and Knight-Ridder Information Inc to form Dialog Corporation Plc. Staff numbers are to fall from 1,400 to 1,060 with most of the cut-backs hitting Knight-Ridder staff. Dialog shares have also been falling recently and the company hopes news of the cut-back will convince the market that the combined group can achieve economies.