It was inevitable that the merger would happen at some point.

Still, despite the steep hurdles it faces, the merger may indeed happen.

This merger eventually happened in 2011 after the necessary legislation was enacted.

"Can you imagine dealing with all those bank bureaucracies, and then have a merger happen?"

No merger ever happened, and the stock did not appreciate as Swan had predicted.

I'm personally hoping that reason wins out, and the merger doesn't happen.

The merger happened at the same time as a general decline in the newspaper industry, making the job even more difficult.

"The merger of voice and data didn't happen; that was a difficult thing," he said.

In practice, however, actual mergers of equals don't happen very often.

And talk that the merger might not happen has faded.