However, the route to today’s announcement has been difficult. Frontier announced intentions to purchase Spirit for $2.9 billion in cash and equity in February. However, JetBlue had its own plans for Spirit, making an all-cash bid of $3.6 billion in April. The airline even promised a $200 million breakup payment if antitrust difficulties stopped the merger from closing.
Despite this, Spirit rejected the agreement, citing JetBlue’s North American Alliance (NEA) with American Airlines as the primary source of worry. The board rejected the JetBlue deal because to antitrust concerns and “an unacceptable amount of closure risk” to its shareholders. JetBlue then launched an aggressive acquisition, dropping its offer to $30 per share but still showing its willingness to negotiate a $33-per-share purchase.
