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UAL Continental Merger Announcement

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Why the hell would CA merge with UAL? UAL is still on VERY shaky ground, profit or no profit. CA is doing just fine all things considered. Goes back to the old adage. Why fix it if it aint broken?
 
This may in fact be true some day, but it's a little disingenuous to start a thread this way.

Try "Free Beer, Hot Chics and No-Cost ATP" next time.
 
Flybwoy said:
just heard that the two are in deep merger talks. announcement in 60 to 90 days.

I also heard Gordon will be the CEO.
Yeah, for sure and United will be the combo's name.
 
USAir and America West were pretty weak when they merged and now look at them. Not to mention the 3 billion or so cash that was raised by combining the two.
 
Psst!

NWA holds the "golden share" at CAL. They can't merge, buy, be bought, or enter into another marketing or commercial agreement without the consent of the NWA Board of Directors.

March, 1998.
 
Occam's Razor said:
Psst!

NWA holds the "golden share" at CAL. They can't merge, buy, be bought, or enter into another marketing or commercial agreement without the consent of the NWA Board of Directors.

March, 1998.


I heard it's already "taking care off" - although, no idea what it could mean.
 
mamba20 said:
Why the hell would CA merge with UAL? UAL is still on VERY shaky ground, profit or no profit. CA is doing just fine all things considered. Goes back to the old adage. Why fix it if it aint broken?

Shaky ground, good fit, bad fit, labor, profits, bankruptcy--none of that matters. If the bankers and senior managers are going to make money from it, there'll be a merger. There is just a ton of money to made by these folks and their lawyers in a merger. If they can walk away with a lifetime's worth of savings in one deal why wouldn't they? We can only hope in the end we still have a job paying something near to what we're making now, something fewer and fewer are realizing.
 
Occam's Razor said:
Psst!

NWA holds the "golden share" at CAL. They can't merge, buy, be bought, or enter into another marketing or commercial agreement without the consent of the NWA Board of Directors.

March, 1998.

Doh! :)
 
Ben Franklin said:
Sincerely,

B. Franklin

You bastard, my computer froze and I had to sit through 55 spins.
 
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Pity the fool that clicks that link while at work or on the crew computer in the check-in room. :laugh:
 
Dan Roman said:
USAir and America West were pretty weak when they merged and now look at them. Not to mention the 3 billion or so cash that was raised by combining the two.

May be you meant: US Air was weak, AWA was doing ok.
 
CAL DAL in 1997 almost did happen. Very close. ALPO is going to have a nice time with this one.
 
John Kerry told me the merger was on before it was off.
 
coogebeachhotel said:
CAL DAL in 1997 almost did happen. Very close. ALPO is going to have a nice time with this one.

There was a very long Wall Street Journal article in late 1998 that provided the blow-by-blow of the "near event".

David Bonderman (the guy who brought the $$ to the CAL re-org in the early 90's) agreed to sell his Preferred shares (the golden shares) to NWA for a hefty R.O.I.

DAL stepped in and tried to outbid NWA, but between a Friday (when they thought they had the deal iced), and Monday...they interviewed CAL upper-management types to "See if any of them were good enough to join the Delta family" (quote in the article from one of the interviewees).

On Monday the CAL Board voted to accept the lower NWA offer, which allowed CAL to keep their team and control their own identity. Ron Allen and the boys were livid. A few months later, the government (DoJ) ruled NWA could not control CAL without consummating a full merger. So the CAL Baord agreed to a deal whereby they bought their own golden share back, and agreed to a 25-year restricted commercial agreement.

The NWA pilots got 4 Letters of Agreement out of the deal in exchange for allowing the commercial agreement. They included Scope limits on CAL flying, restrictions of city-pairs served by CAL Express, and a growth ratio standard that required NWA to be at least 107% the size of CAL. From 1998 until 2005, NWA was between 114% and 120%. The ratio was negotiated away under the new contract.

The Wings Alliance was also part of the 1998 commercial agreement.

The restriction on mergers, buyouts, yada, yada is still in force, but could be sold, I suppose, to someone willing to give NWA a lot of cash.
 
mamba20 said:
Why the hell would CA merge with UAL? UAL is still on VERY shaky ground, profit or no profit. CA is doing just fine all things considered. Goes back to the old adage. Why fix it if it aint broken?


Maybe it's United's 4.5 Billion cash on hand vs. Continental's 2B market capitalization. What part of Continental is not broken? The corporation has not posted an annual profit in the past 5 years. United would do well with Continental's European routes and the fleet types would combine somewhat well.
 
tomcash said:
Maybe it's United's 4.5 Billion cash on hand vs. Continental's 2B market capitalization. What part of Continental is not broken? The corporation has not posted an annual profit in the past 5 years. United would do well with Continental's European routes and the fleet types would combine somewhat well.


4.5billion cash? That's like me taking out a $20,000 cash advance on a credit card and saying I'm rich....
 
Cash on hand
May 03 1..6B
Apr 04 2.4B
Aug 06 4.5B with I believe 866Mil of it in "restricted" cash.

UAL has been quietly squirreling away cash for a while now. By no means am I saying were even close to being out of the woods BUT you may want to check your own glass house financials before you throw them stones.
BTW good luck to you and trust me, WE don't want any part of this merger either.
OBTW..YOU are rich if you can get a $20,000 CASH advance from your credit card, just don't let your wife get a hold of it . :)
Peace

Koko
 
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does this mean my united stock will do something other than tank?
 
"Mongo just pawn, in game of life."
 
How long did you think United was really going to be number two to AMR??

It's not if, it is when. United and the next bygone airline will just be one of the many consolidations yet to come within the next 36 months.
 

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