Southwest Airlines To Buy Back Initial $250 Mln Shares; Signs Deals With Elliott

Southwest Airlines

25.07 CHF -36.75%

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Kaufen / Verkaufen

(RTTNews) - Southwest Airlines Inc. (LUV), while reporting weak third-quarter earnings, but above market estimates, on Thursday said it intends to repurchase an initial $250 million of common stock, under the $2.5 billion share repurchase authorization announced last month.

Separately, the company said it has entered into Cooperation and Information Sharing Agreements with shareholder Elliott Investment Management L.P., under which five independent directors have been appointed.

Elliott has informed the Company that it withdrew its request to call a Special Meeting of Shareholders and no longer intends to nominate candidates to stand for election to the Southwest Airlines Board.

The airline announced the appointments of David Cush, Sarah Feinberg, Dave Grissen, Gregg Saretsky and Patricia Watson as independent directors. In addition, Pierre Breber, former CFO of Chevron, has also been appointed to the Board of Directors. These appointments are effective as of November 1.

Further, the reirement of Executive Chairman Gary Kelly, along with the previously announced retirements of six other Southwest Directors, will go into effect on November 1. Following his departure from the Board and related responsibilities, Kelly will assume the title of Chairman Emeritus.

The newly reconstituted Board will appoint a new independent Chairman. The Board will be reduced to 13 members as of Southwest's 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting.

As part of the process and to facilitate collaboration, Southwest has entered into a Cooperation Agreement under which Elliott has agreed to standstill, voting, confidentiality, and other provisions, and an Information Sharing Agreement to enable Southwest to share confidential information regarding upcoming Company announcements and other matters.

In pre-market activity on the NYSE, Southwest shares were losing around 1.2 percent to trade at $30.28.