On Monday, Alaska Airlines said it had struck an agreement to buy smaller rival Virgin America for $57 a share, or about $2.6 billion, a premium of 47 percent over Virgin America's closing price on Friday. Alaska had been in a competitive bidding war with JetBlue, "a fierce back and forth between the two sides, with multiple bids for a number of days," one unidentified person told The Wall Street Journal, adding that JetBlue "put the pencil down" when the price got too high.
The combined Alaska-Virgin America would be the No. 5 U.S. carrier by traffic, supplanting JetBlue. The deal is expected to face some regulatory scrutiny. Alaska, an 84-year-old airline based in Seattle, is in good financial health and, like Virgin America, consistently wins awards for customer satisfaction. Virgin America began flying in 2007, went public in November 2014, and is jointly owned by Richard Branson's Virgin Group Ltd. and Cyrus Capital Partners LP.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
2024: the year of legacy media failuresIn the Spotlight From election criticism to continued layoffs, the media has had it tough in 2024
-
Marty Makary: the medical contrarian who will lead the FDAIn the Spotlight What Johns Hopkins surgeon and commentator Marty Makary will bring to the FDA
-
4 tips for navigating holiday season stressThe Week Recommends Balancing pressure and enjoying the holidays can indeed coexist
-
Judges block $25B Kroger-Albertsons mergerSpeed Read The proposed merger between the supermarket giants was stalled when judges overseeing two separate cases blocked the deal
-
Rupert Murdoch loses 'Succession' court battleSpeed Read Murdoch wanted to give full control of his empire to son Lachlan, ensuring Fox News' right-wing editorial slant
-
Bitcoin surges above $100k in post-election rallySpeed Read Investors are betting that the incoming Trump administration will embrace crypto
-
Enron mystery: 'sick joke' or serious revival?Speed Read 23 years after its bankruptcy filing, the Texas energy firm has announced its resurrection
-
US charges Indian tycoon with bribery, fraudSpeed Read Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been indicted by US prosecutors for his role in a $265 million scheme to secure solar energy deals
-
Boeing machinists approve contract, end strikeSpeed Read The company's largest union approved the new contract offer, ending a seven-week strike
-
US economy still strong in final preelection reportSpeed Read It grew at a solid 2.8% annual rate from July through September
-
Boeing machinists reject deal, continue strikeSpeed Read The rejection came the same day Boeing reported a $6.2 billion quarterly loss
