Why would Boeing, just on the verge of an amazing comeback, even consider buying Airbus, which as Parabellum says above, is a dead duck? The A350 has been delayed until oil runs out, the A340-600 is not selling compared to the Boeing777 and doesn't come close to specs. You might as well find a hole in the ground and pour the money right in!!! The A380 may well be the airplane that drags Airbus down, such was the desire to build an airplane to outsize the 747 but was there really the case to build it, just because they could?
It would appear Boeing, with it's hot selling 787, massive backlog of 737's and about to be hot-selling 747-8, is doing just fine by itself!!