i am on ken's side. if we want a more realistic sim, we ought to be in favor of more realistic scenarios, one of which is being bought out by a larger company. If one player agrees to sell their airline name (not management) for the value of that company, I'd say that's a pretty even deal, especially considering that it is currently already possible to take both name and routes just by buying all of someone's planes at an agreed amount.
Something I'd add to Ken's idea would be the ability to sell one's "child" companies.