Delta Air Lines’ 2008 acquisition of Northwest Airlines was valued at about $2.8 billion.
The deal was announced on April 14, 2008, as an all-stock transaction. Northwest shareholders were to receive 1.25 Delta shares for each Northwest share, and the exchange valued Northwest at roughly $2.8 billion based on Delta’s share price and Northwest’s outstanding shares.
The merger created what was then the world’s largest commercial airline, with 786 aircraft. Delta kept its name and Atlanta headquarters, while Northwest’s network added major hubs and international strength, particularly in Detroit, Minneapolis–Saint Paul and Tokyo. The U.S. Justice Department approved the transaction on October 29, 2008, after concluding that the airlines’ route networks overlapped only modestly.
A common source of confusion is that different measures produce different figures. The combined airline’s announced enterprise value was $17.7 billion, while Delta’s later accounting treatment valued the merger at $3.4 billion. The $2.8 billion figure refers to the widely reported value of Northwest’s equity consideration, which is the standard answer to this quiz question.