Originally Posted by theUpsideDown

Argenbright wouldn't pay what delta wanted and no one else would take the failing company. Delta goes from whole owner to stakeholder so DGS doesn't collapse when Argenbright finds out how badly run DGS is. That stake will be reduced over time, and maybe in time Delta the public company will release more information on the transaction. Argen is a private company so I'd guess 3-5 years delta has some small partnership.

You can buy into the flowery language if you want. Delta traded a bad asset and volunteered to keep themselves tied to it, because no one is buying DGS as a viable business. Meanwhile Delta gets to take important airports like RDU and turn them mainline, and I'd expect within 1-3 years Argenbright is running all tsa operations in ATL, DTW and MSP (delta side) and a handful of others.

Bonuses, we lose DGS and a private firm fixes some of the nonsense, and possibly the blue badge wearing smurfs get unloaded for something less badly run at a couple key airports. Worse case, Argenbright does what they are most famous for. What's the worse that could happen?