But with the merger blocked, Mr Welch can simply retire as planned.
U.P.S.'s $6.9 billion bid for TNT Express is the latest merger blocked by the European Union, and certainly the most prominent since the proposed tie-up of NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Börse last year.
REUTERS With U.P.S. Deal, European Antitrust Regulators Block Another Big Merger | U.P.S.'s $6.9 billion bid for TNT Express is the latest merger blocked by the European Union, and the most prominent since the proposed tie-up of NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Borse last year.
Ever since the XM-Sirius deal, lawyers have been wondering just what it would take to get a merger blocked.Some lawyers see America's hands-off approach as a matter more of legal architecture than of economic creed.
In March, the board imposed a 15-month moratorium on mergers, blocking a proposed merger between Canadian National and Burlington Northern.
Four other cases of mergers blocked on antitrust grounds, including that of General Electric and Honeywell, are pending.
The European Commission has looked critically at other music mergers, blocking a full Warner-EMI merger in 2000 when it insisted EMI sell its Motown song catalogue as part of the deal.
In the years since Alcan's 1999 bid, the team headed by Mario Monti, the competition commissioner, has been buffeted by a series of successful legal challenges to its merger-blocking decisions.
If the merger is blocked, the clear winners will be United and Delta, which have global ambitions, some analysts say.
Earlier this year a three-way aluminium merger was blocked, despite evidence that the companies concerned are struggling to compete with giants such as Alcoa of America.
There was a risk that Live Nation would sell its ticket service if the merger was blocked and simply sign a contract with Ticketmaster.
