JetBlue Refuses To Accept Spirit No Interested In Its Merger Offer

In what amounts to more ‘unwelcome advances’, it seems JetBlue is unwilling to accept that No means No.

A few weeks ago we reported that Spirit and Frontier Airlines had come to an agreement to combine forces and capitalize on additional market reach, while retaining their respective identities, operational control, and neither having to jettison existing routing or staff.

Along came JetBlue with a cash offer which, in their opinion, is a ‘good deal’ but seemed to require significant concessions on the part of Spirit Airlines once the dust settled, not to mention ‘risks’ which it will have been forced to bear, but JetBlue, not so much. To that initial unwelcome advance, the board say no thank you, we’re fine with the "less lucrative" offer from Frontier Airlines. Not seeing any fish biting on that unwelcome bait, JetBlue has now ventured out and dangled that old bait at the Spirit Airlines shareholders’ upcoming Special Meeting, stating, for example, that they offer "more value...certainty...and opportunity."

JetBlue went further in stating that they were not given the same diligence information provided to Frontier, and that their proposal was summarily rejected. JetBlue had initially offered $30 per share, and now seems to have downgraded it. Additionally, JetBlue stated that the unjustified refusal of the Spirit Airlines board to engage has forced them [JetBlue] to bring their proposal directly to the shareholders, urging them to "vote AGAINST the Frontier transaction at the upcoming special meeting.” Like an unruly child whose toy was taken away, JetBlue may soon realize that Spirit is not its plaything, and that throwing its money or weight around is nothing but a poor distraction.

FMI: https://spirit.com, https://flyfrontier.com, https://jetblue.com