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JetBlue (Nasdaq: JBLU) on Tuesday made an unsolicited $3.6 billion takeover bid for Spirit Airlines (NYSE: SAVE), which previously agreed to merge with fellow low-cost carrier Frontier (Nasdaq: ULCC).

The all-cash bid is at a 33% premium to Frontier's cash-and-stock offer.

It also would prompt an intensive antitrust review, particularly as JetBlue already is dealing with a Justice Department suit over its partnership with American Airlines.

If JetBlue does manage to get this deal done, expect some of its major carrier rivals to seek out new acquisitions of their own.

JetBlue offers to buy Spirit Airlines

Mergers and acquisitions

A Spirit Airlines airplane taxis past FedEx cargo planes at Indianapolis International Airport in Indianapolis.

<p>JetBlue (Nasdaq: JBLU) on Tuesday made an unsolicited $3.6 billion takeover bid for Spirit Airlines (NYSE: SAVE), which previously agreed to merge with fellow low-cost carrier Frontier (Nasdaq: ULCC).</p><ul><li>The all-cash bid is at a 33% premium to Frontier&#x27;s cash-and-stock offer.</li></ul>

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

JetBlue offers to buy Spirit Airlines

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