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- <text id=90TT2141>
- <title>
- Aug. 13, 1990: Business Notes:Buyouts
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
- Aug. 13, 1990 Iraq On The March
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- BUSINESS, Page 57
- Business Notes
- BUYOUTS
- Why Can't This Bird Fly?
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> Callers dialing the United Airlines pilots' hotline last
- week were confused. As the holiday tune Greensleeves played
- creakily in the background, the recorded message reassured
- listeners that the company's proposed employee buyout was still
- on track. But then again, was this some old tape left over from
- last Christmas?
- </p>
- <p> For three years, United's employees have mounted one scheme
- after another to buy the airline, sending the stock bouncing
- as high as 290 and as low as 53. The collapse of a $6.8 billion
- buyout attempt last October triggered a stock-market minicrash.
- In April, United's board tentatively accepted a $4.4 billion
- deal proposed by the airline's employees. But last week, as an
- Aug. 9 financing deadline approached, several major banks
- withdrew from talks with United's would-be owners. One apparent
- concern: the ability of the employees to handle the huge debt
- involved. As the banks stepped back, United's stock fell 41 a
- share to close the week at 122. "The main problem," said a
- financial insider, "is this deal is stale."
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-
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