Vote on Merger Leaves Spirit Execs in the Lurch, Unsure of Merger Status
The Spirit and Frontier Airlines merger stands before shareholders of the company, scheduled to vote on the matter today on whether or not the two should approve the airline as a preferred buyer. Rumor has it that Spirit’s board leans a different way than the shareholder body, preferring to merge with Frontier. The shareholders, however, just might reject the bid and push it into the arms of JetBlue Airways, whose $3.7 billion all-cash offer handily outstrips Frontier’s $2.6 billion offer. Naturally, money is only a portion of the deal, as the board and Frontier argue that a JetBlue bid has little chance of making its way past antitrust regulators.