Midwest Airlines Midwest Miles - Brian Bedford "surprised" Republic won bid

Reading this article, its reads like Bedford was surprised that Republic won the bidding for Frontier - perhaps he was hoping for a big pay-out?

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/aug2009/db20090814_542215.htm?campaign_id=yhoo

Wow, and Republic was forced to sweeten its bid and drop most all preconditions on its bid and drop its secured $150 M claim against Frontier.

It reminds me of when TPG and Northwest overpaid for Midwest ;)

Quick, lay off 100 people at Oak Creek, it's just business.

Quick, lay off 100 people at Oak Creek, it's just business.

Yes, it is just business.

While it's unfortunate that these positions are being eliminated, Republic has been very clear that they need to make Midwest as efficient as possible. Why keep duplicate functions in Oak Creek when they already exist in Indianapolis :confused: That just adds unneccessary costs.

Quick, lay off 100 people at Oak Creek, it's just business.

Not only that, all part-time people just had their vacation yanked. Not just paid vacation, now it's NO vacation!!! No vacation:mad:

Republic will be doing all the short haul flying and Frontier will be doing all the high density long haul flying. The Midwest brand will be gone next year. Republic will get around scope issues with the represented employee groups by rebranding itself Midwest Connect. There will be no need for any Midwest functions or jobs. Frontier does a much better job at marketing and pricing. The slow death of Midwest should speed up with the departure of the 717's in the first quarter. This was the worst case scenario for the loyal employees at Midwest and an additional burden on the heavy unemployment numbers in Wisconsin. It is great news for Milwaukee area travelers if all you care about is a cheap seat. I always judge a man by his actions not his words. That God bless you on the memo from Bedford sure seems cheap and dirty considering his actions.

Republic was forced to sweeten its bid and drop most all preconditions on its bid and drop its secured $150 M claim against Frontier.

It reminds me of when TPG and Northwest overpaid for Midwest.

I've seen estimates that Republic was likely to collect at best between 12 and 13 cents on the dollar for that claim. If so, that comes to around $19 million of sweetener.

Time will tell if they overpaid, but compared to the original Midwest sale this is still quite a bargain.

I've seen estimates that Republic was likely to collect at best between 12 and 13 cents on the dollar for that claim. If so, that comes to around $19 million of sweetener.

Time will tell if they overpaid, but compared to the original Midwest sale this is still quite a bargain.

I don't think it's surprising that Republic increased its bid.

They knew going in that there was a chance another airline would make an offer for Frontier. Since an auction would be required if another party stepped forward, there was no sense in throwing your highest bid out there right away.

There was obviously a ceiling for Republic, but I think they still got a good deal. If Frontier continues to be profitable, Republic could sell a portion of the airline to a third party and still be money ahead.