The CEO of Southwest Airlines called an activist investor's criticisms 'inane'

Melvin Backman
·2-min read
A Southwest Airlines plane - Photo: LM Otero (AP)
A Southwest Airlines plane - Photo: LM Otero (AP)

Southwest Airlines (LUV) outlined a number of actions Thursday that it’s taking to improve its business in the face of an activist investor campaign. CEO Bob Jordan also had words for Elliott Investment Management, the hedge fund mounting that campaign.

“I hope you can tell that the plan that we presented today was intentful, the plan was detailed, the plan was well constructed,” he said at an investor day presentation before pivoting to address the hedge fund directly. “For Elliott to call that plan rushed and haphazard is inane.”

Included in those plans were several developments:

Elliott, which has amassed an 11% stake in Southwest, was not impressed.

“Today’s Investor Day will have a familiar ring for many shareholders: Another promise of a better tomorrow from the same people who have created the problems we face today,” it said in a statement Thursday.

The fund has been pushing to install new leadership and kick off a comprehensive business review. Previously, Elliott has decried Southwest’s changes as too little, too late and it announced this week that it will soon be calling a special shareholder meeting.

“Southwest’s management and board have chosen a go-it-alone path with the goal of obstructing a leadership change that is urgently needed,” the fund wrote in a recent letter to the carrier’s other shareholders.

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