A Regulator's Gift Horse?
The initial plot was simple enough. Boeing, still trying to get its house in order after a series of rather public calamities, wanted to buy its key supplier, Spirit AeroSystems. The idea was to bring the manufacturing of its fuselages and wings back under one roof, presumably to stop parts arriving with faults you could see from space. A sensible, if unexciting, plan.
Regulators, however, spotted a problem. Spirit doesn't just build bits for Boeing, it also happens to be a crucial supplier to Boeing’s arch nemesis, Airbus. Allowing Boeing to control that part of the business would be, to put it mildly, anti competitive. So, in a moment of surprising clarity, the FTC played Solomon. Boeing can have Spirit, they said, but it must sell off the factories that supply Airbus. Suddenly, a very valuable, very strategic set of assets is on the block.