Milwaukee based Midwest Airlines is putting up a fight to keep a discount airline from gobbling them up in a take-over bid.
The Midwest Airlines board rejected the latest multi-million dollar merger offer from discount airline AirTran at 11-dollars 25 cents a share. But Midwest is publicly traded and the shareholders hold the key.
Joe Boucher, who teaches business law at the UW-Madison School of Business, says the shareholders can override the board and decide to sell anyway if the price is right.
Boucher says it also depends on who owns the most shares. Someone who bought shares years ago and believes in the Midwest story of a Wisconsin based company that did well selling service will have a different view than someone who just bought shares a few weeks ago hoping to make a quick buck.
AirTran says it needs Midwest to expand its operations into the region. They're promising not to get rid of Midwest employees or the award winning service including chocolate chip cookies served on board. Midwest Executives claim AirTran is making promises it can't keep.
Most analysts expect AirTran's price per share offer to go up and that may be what Midwest shareholders really want.