Summary Elliott Investment Management, which has amassed an 11% shareholding in Southwest Airlines, has continued to push a leadership change at the airline. While Southwest Airlines has attempted to make changes, the investment firm brushed them off, continuing to call for the resignation or removal of the carrier's top executives. The proxy battle has been brewing since early June, when Elliott announced its Stronger Southwest plan, which outlined the needed changes at the airline, including the removal of its chairman of the board and CEO.
Elliott Investment Management (Elliott) has continued criticizing Southwest Airlines' current and former chief executives, with the investment firm addressing the carrier’s shareholders and reiterating its plans to change the leadership at Southwest Airlines. Continuous criticism Continuing to publish letters on the Stronger Southwest platform, Elliott has once again critiqued Bob Jordan, the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Southwest Airlines, and Gary Kelly, the current chairman of the board and former CEO of the airline. Blaming the two executives for years’ long mismanagement, the investment firm outlined that over the course of three years before it announced its 11% position in Southwest Airlines in June, the airline’s share price has fallen by more than 30%.
“Shareholders are demanding better, and as one of the Company’s largest investors, we are leading an effort to arrest Southwest’s decline and return .