ABSTRACT
The abandoned merger process of US airline carriers UAL Corporation (UAL), parent company of United Airlines, and US Airways Group, parent company of US Airways, over 2000–2001 is chosen to demonstrate that stakeholder relationships – in this case, employees and regulators – are a function of past and present actions and underscore how intra- and inter-group relationships influence M&A actions and outcomes. This failed merger process reflects how resisting key stakeholder interests – embittered stakeholder relationships – in this case employees and ultimately the anti-trust regulator – doomed the merger.
Unless stated otherwise, the material in this chapter is drawn from Lamberg et al. and reframed in the stakeholder relationship framework developed in Chapters 5–7. The chapter outlines the merger details, rationale, employee, and regulator relationships during the merger process, their salience, stakeholder type, and balance and reflects on the EPS processes involved.
