Elizabeth Warren hailed blocking the $3.8B Spirit-JetBlue merger as a 'Biden win for flyers.' Now Spirit is gone

[HellToupee]

 

[TimHauck]

26 minutes ago, WhiteWonder said:

I’m shocked 

Have you counted?  You’re saying it’s “way less”

[WhiteWonder]

14 minutes ago, TimHauck said:

Have you counted?  You’re saying it’s “way less”

Oh stop   I already gave numbers for the 4 year Biden admin and Tim made the initial assertion that Trump does it constantly. I also said it “looks like it’s been way less”, so yes I did indeed do some research on it. 
 

Timcrotch just says “Trump is wrong to constantly interfere in mergers” because despite supporting Biden/Harris, he likely spent more time consuming news about Trump since 2016 so it feels like he’s done it more. 

[HellToupee]

Granny Warren fights for consumers 

 

[WhiteWonder]

1 minute ago, HellToupee said:

Granny Warren fights for consumers 

 

At least post something funny 

[dogcows]

You know things are bad for the current prez. 16 months into his term and MAGA fans are trying to blame his failures on Biden and Warren.

[CaptainObvious1]

10 minutes ago, dogcows said:

You know things are bad for the current prez. 16 months into his term and MAGA fans are trying to blame his failures on Biden and Warren.

You guys did the But Trump routine for 4 years of Biden.  This had nothing to do with Trump.  He didn't block this deal.

[Caine Mutiny]

55 minutes ago, WhiteWonder said:

Oh stop   I already gave numbers for the 4 year Biden admin and Tim made the initial assertion that Trump does it constantly. I also said it “looks like it’s been way less”, so yes I did indeed do some research on it. 
 

Timcrotch just says “Trump is wrong to constantly interfere in mergers” because despite supporting Biden/Harris, he likely spent more time consuming news about Trump since 2016 so it feels like he’s done it more. 

Look I agree with you that nobody should do this. I acknowledge that maybe Biden did it more than Trump (I don’t know for sure.) Just  take the win. 

[TimHauck]

36 minutes ago, CaptainObvious1 said:

You guys did the But Trump routine for 4 years of Biden.  This had nothing to do with Trump.  He didn't block this deal.

So a massive spike in fuel prices immediately before they shut down, directly caused by our voluntary war with Iran had nothing to do with it?  That’s certainly a take.

[dogcows]

53 minutes ago, CaptainObvious1 said:

You guys did the But Trump routine for 4 years of Biden.  This had nothing to do with Trump.  He didn't block this deal.

BIDEN!

Low-cost airlines tend to be short on liquidity. A massive fuel spike is enough to do them in.

It’s possible the deal would have cost JetBlue a lot and lowered their borrowing power, causing both airlines to fold.

[WhiteWonder]

45 minutes ago, Caine Mutiny said:

Look I agree with you that nobody should do this. I acknowledge that maybe Biden did it more than Trump (I don’t know for sure.) Just  take the win. 

I already had taken the win, but lemming Timhack has to inject himself everywhere. 

[SaintsInDome2006]

So after a day of spinning plates on this the Spirit-Jet Blue merger wasn’t stopped by Biden or Buttigieg or Garland or even the FTC - it was stopped by Regan appointed federal judge William Young who issued a classically conservative opinion upholding the Clayton Act.

[Maximum Overkill]

6 hours ago, dogcows said:

A massive fuel spike is enough to do them in.

Except that's not at all what happened, was it? 

[TimHauck]

16 hours ago, Mark Davis said:

You're conflating two issues.  Spirit and Frontier are separate companies and separate issues.

Frontier is relevant.  Spirit and Frontier had agreed to merge in 2022 before JetBlue came in with a higher offer.  But Spirt’s CEO warned in 2022 that a Spirit/Frontier merger would be more likely to get regulatory approval than a Spirit/JetBlue merger, and said he thought that JetBlue may have only made the offer so that the Spirit/Frontier merger wouldn’t happen.

https://apnews.com/article/business-hostile-takeovers-b52839e46fa913f79454d5a76ba38c51

Frontier also made another offer for Spirit in 2025 which was rejected, so Spirit did have another chance to survive but turned it down.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/12/business/spirit-airlines-frontier-merger-rejected

[TimHauck]

41 minutes ago, Maximum Overkill said:

Except that's not at all what happened, was it? 

They were in trouble already.  But the fuel price spike directly caused by the voluntary war with Iran was the nail in the coffin

[seafoam1]

Liberals are completely out of touch with reality.

But what's new? 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Judge William Young blocked the merger.

- The Biden administration did not block the merger.

This whole discussion is based on a spurious claim.

[Tree of Knowledge]

More Biden Racism.  Where are black and LGBTQ+ people going to go for flights?  Spirit was the go to company.
 

The Illegitimate Biden Regime just spread hate and lined their pockets.  The indictments cannot continue to be slow walked.  
 

Also, I have seen many reports where Pocahontas shorted Spirit stock.  Any truth to that one?

[SaintsInDome2006]

2 minutes ago, Tree of Knowledge said:

More Biden Racism.  Where are black and LGBTQ+ people going to go for flights?  

It had nothing to do with the Biden administration.

[nobody]

Another Biden flop.  The v ft that keeps on giving.

[Caine Mutiny]

While the failure of the merger forced Spirit in to partial bankruptcy a couple of years ago, my understanding is that it was the Iran war and the increased fuel costs as a result of the war that was the final, decisive nail in the coffin. 

[SaintsInDome2006]

17 minutes ago, nobody said:

Another Biden flop.  The v ft that keeps on giving.

Had nothing to do with Biden, folks, a federal judge stopped the merger. This thread is a good example of spinning disinformation.

[nobody]

10 minutes ago, SaintsInDome2006 said:

Had nothing to do with Biden, folks, a federal judge stopped the merger. This thread is a good example of spinning disinformation.

New to following financial news or something?

Administration sets M&A climate given there is subjectivity to enforcement.  Enforcement follows suit.

[Reality]

1 hour ago, SaintsInDome2006 said:

Judge William Young blocked the merger.

- The Biden administration did not block the merger.

This whole discussion is based on a spurious claim.

LoL

Dig a little deeper, bud.

[SaintsInDome2006]

1 minute ago, Reality said:

LoL

Dig a little deeper, bud.

Here’s a 1/17/24 article from an airline blog about the decision.

When was a ruling made by the Biden administration & who made it?

[TimHauck]

5 minutes ago, SaintsInDome2006 said:

Here’s a 1/17/24 article from an airline blog about the decision.

When was a ruling made by the Biden administration & who made it?

I guess GC righties (including @nobody) want us to believe that Republican-appointed judges do what Democrats administrations tell them to do?

[Maximum Overkill]

1 minute ago, TimHauck said:

I guess GC righties (including @nobody) want us to believe that Republican-appointed judges do what Democrats administrations tell them to do?

Did you know that she's an American Indian? 

[SaintsInDome2006]

34 minutes ago, nobody said:

New to following financial news or something?

Administration sets M&A climate given there is subjectivity to enforcement.  Enforcement follows suit.

You say it there yourself, it’s the judge who decides. There was even a trial.

[TimHauck]

51 minutes ago, SaintsInDome2006 said:

Here’s a 1/17/24 article from an airline blog about the decision.

When was a ruling made by the Biden administration & who made it?

Spirit CEO even said in 2022 he didn’t think it would go through and wanted to take Frontier’s offer instead 

[SaintsInDome2006]

10 minutes ago, TimHauck said:

Spirit CEO even said in 2022 he didn’t think it would go through and wanted to take Frontier’s offer instead 

Thank you. I’ve been trying to understand how Frontier fit into this.

Apparently Jet Blue’s stock went up 8% after Young’s decision.

[TimHauck]

16 minutes ago, SaintsInDome2006 said:

Thank you. I’ve been trying to understand how Frontier fit into this.

Apparently Jet Blue’s stock went up 8% after Young’s decision.

Yeah Frontier and Spirit had an agreement before JetBlue came in.  Spirit leadership wanted to take Frontier’s offer but shareholders went with JetBlue’s.

[WhiteWonder]

im sure fuel prices were the nail in the coffin. so I gues... TRUMP!     Which other airlines are gone since Iran?

[WhiteWonder]

2 hours ago, TimHauck said:

I guess GC righties (including @nobody) want us to believe that Republican-appointed judges do what Democrats administrations tell them to do?

it's a little more nuanced than that, I think. Trump admin FTC and DOJ sued to block 3 mergers in 2025. Biden admin FTC and DOJ sued to block 7 mergers annually. Often times, the threat of action has been enough to get companies to drop merger plans. The Biden Admin FTC and DOJ only filed 30ish lawsuits in their 4 years while 70ish total mergers were "abandoned" or blocked. 

not even condemning the Biden admin as much as providing food for thought. It wouldn't always come down to judges. 

[Reality]

I'm not surprised people don't know how this stuff works, just know, Warren called it a Biden win for a reason. 

[nobody]

 

If the Biden admin was cool with this merger, why did the Biden DoJ file the suit to begin with.

 

[Hardcore troubadour]

Anyone get the feeling that Elizabeth Warren doesn’t know what she’s talking about? She keeps being wrong.  

[SaintsInDome2006]

19 minutes ago, Reality said:

I'm not surprised people don't know how this stuff works, just know, Warren called it a Biden win for a reason. 

Because she’s a populist politician.

[SaintsInDome2006]

7 minutes ago, nobody said:

 

If the Biden admin was cool with this merger, why did the Biden DoJ file the suit to begin with.

Guys, it’s not just Biden. This is how every administration except two have worked. Independent policymakers make decisions independently following the law, here, the Clayton Act. And you can tell that’s what happened because you have a *liberal administration and a *conservative judge agreeing on an issue - following a trial btw - on an issue that absolutely nobody outside DC airline trade circles cared about at the time.

[nobody]

3 hours ago, TimHauck said:

I guess GC righties (including @nobody) want us to believe that Republican-appointed judges do what Democrats administrations tell them to do?

Man, I can see why your takes are always so bad. You really have no idea how the world works.

Let me help you even though I know you won't listen.

The first job of anyone with any power is to keep the power.  That means they won't rluffle feathers.  It's why rich people get away with stuff and poor people don't.  It's why Congress and the presidents' family can take a bunch of kickbacks and everyone looks the other way.  It's not worth the fight.

So when the Biden admin told the DoJ corporations are the debbil and no mergers under their watch, unless there were forces coalescing to oppose the DoJ (again... Is this something worth using political capital on?), it was going to fail.  

Get this through your head... People act firstly in their own self interest.  Stop thinking that people will follow the rule of law and take stances and shìt.  That'll get you fired.  If there's money to steal, someone will steal it.  If there are favors to collect, they will be collected.  Watch what happens to that senator from Pennsylvania who doesn't go along with the team.  He's donezo.  But hey at least he tried to stand up for what he thought.

And I know you're thinking that's pessimistic, but it's not.  It's realistic.  Your Pollyanna thinking you s constantly proven wrong.  Learn your lesson, dude.

[TimHauck]

41 minutes ago, WhiteWonder said:

it's a little more nuanced than that, I think. Trump admin FTC and DOJ sued to block 3 mergers in 2025. Biden admin FTC and DOJ sued to block 7 mergers annually. Often times, the threat of action has been enough to get companies to drop merger plans. The Biden Admin FTC and DOJ only filed 30ish lawsuits in their 4 years while 70ish total mergers were "abandoned" or blocked. 

not even condemning the Biden admin as much as providing food for thought. It wouldn't always come down to judges. 

Yeah I would say in situations where the admin sued and then the companies dropped merger plans, that can be blamed on the admin.  But when it goes to a judge, I don’t think it’s fair to say it’s all their fault.  And we don’t even know what the Trump admin would have done.   Again the Spirit CEO even warned that he didn’t think it would get approved.

And when I say “fault” there, that’s talking about fault in blocking the merger.  Not fault in why Spirit is now gone.   That is especially more unfair to blame on Biden since Spirit rejected an offer from Frontier as recently as 2025.