As was reported in USA Today earlier this week, hotel giants Marriott and Starwood Hotels & Resorts took the next major step in their unification after shareholders of both companies approved the merger.

The deal will give Starwood stockholders 0.8 shares of Marriott common stock plus $21 cash for each share of Starwood common stock. Marriott will end up paying about $13.3 billion for Starwood.

Marriott CEO Anne Sorenson expects the transaction to be completed by the middle of this year. The deal has seen its fair share of ups and downs the last few weeks after Chinese-based Anbang Insurance Group tried to swoop in at the last minute with an all-cash bid for Starwood.

How the merger will play out for owners, franchisees and developers of the brands remains to be seen. It’s hard to tell until the merger is finalized, but this will certainly affect franchisees on both sides.

The combined companies will have 30 brands and more than a million rooms. To read the original story, click here.

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Nick Powills

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Nick Powills

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Nick Powills, CFE, founded No Limit Agency in 2008 and serves as Chief Brand Strategist for the Chicago-based firm. No Limit is a full-service communications agency that establishes and elevates brands by bridging Public Relations, Social Media, Marketing, Advertising, Digital, and a lot of creativity, to best strategize well-rounded and successful campaigns for 50+ global franchise brands. By presenting visionary ideas and building real relationships, No Limit is able to create effective media branding strategies to help companies grow. Nick currently leads a staff of writers, media strategists, designers, social media experts and digital producers in an office think-tank where brands are humanized for strong, compelling media stories. Prior to starting No Limit at the age of 27, Nick spent four years working at a franchise PR agency where he mastered the art of building rapport with media outlets and creating newsworthy pitches for earned media placements. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism from Drake University in Iowa.