Luminosity in close companions per unit comoving volume (﹩l_{c}﹩) plotted vs. ﹩M_{r}﹩ for SDSS and for Millennium. Excellent agreement is seen between the two samples. ﹩l_{c}( M_{r}) ﹩ exhibits a clear peak at or very close to ﹩M^{*}﹩. The decline toward brighter absolute magnitudes results primarily from the low number density of such systems, whereas the decline at the faint end results from the decreasing luminosity of companions. In terms of stellar mass (as inferred from galaxy luminosities), this implies that ﹩L^{*}﹩ is the most relevant regime for major mergers.