Carl Icahn, the activist investor, won two seats on JetBlue’s board of directors less than a week after he disclosed a nearly 10% stake in the airline. In disclosing his JetBlue stake, Icahn said he believed the shares were undervalued. JetBlue’s stock is down more than 19% over the past 12 months as of Friday’s close.
The two new board members are Jesse Lynn, general counsel of Icahn Enterprises; and Steven Miller, portfolio manager of Icahn Capital. Lynn and Miller will serve as nonvoting observers to the board through JetBlue’s annual meeting of stockholders this spring, after which they will join the board as full voting members.
These moves came at the same time that Joanna Geraghty assumed the role of CEO of JetBlue as the company contends with years of losses and the blocking by a federal judge of its acquisition of Spirit Airlines. In a statement, Geraghty said the carrier is already taking action to restore its historical earnings power. She said it is executing more than $300 million of revenue initiatives this year, and is on track to deliver significant cost savings from a structural cost program, fleet modernization and fixed cost base reductions.
In a past foray into the aviation industry in the 1980s, Icahn took TWA private. It struggled and eventually filed for bankruptcy.
Image: Courtesy of jetBlue
