Originally Posted by
defrosted
I thought technically speaking Delta owned Northwest?
Neither was really big enough to "acquire" the other. It was a mutually agreed upon merger with DL being the successor in interest and consisted of a cashless, all-stock transaction. NW execs played a significant role in the merger and a number continued on in the company (with Richard Anderson, the former NW CEO, heading the new DL). Examples of true buy-out's include the WN/Airtran and AS/Virgin America where the acquired airline had no real role or say.