Southwest Airlines LUV
The three reasons
- 1
Southwest's outdated strategy collapsed margins from best-in-class 21% to worst-in-class 8%
- 2
Insular leadership has ignored a decade of investor calls for change and missed 17 of 20 earnings
- 3
New leadership and a modernized strategy unlock 67-87% share price upside ($28 to $49)
Primary demands
- Significant Board change including new independent directors with external airline experience
- Replace Executive Chairman Gary Kelly and CEO Bob Jordan with leadership recruited from outside the company
- Retire the Executive Chairman structure
- Launch a comprehensive board-level business review of strategy, costs, network, capital allocation and technology
- Modernize commercial strategy (assigned seating, premium products, ancillary revenue)
KPIs cited
Pattern membership
Where this document fits across the library's 12 rhetorical / structural patterns.
Notable slides (6)
Notes
Initial thesis deck for Elliott's 'Stronger Southwest' campaign (StrongerSouthwest.com microsite). Strong SCQA structure: legacy/glory days -> outdated present -> required change -> upside. Slide 29 is a textbook CEO-quote-contradiction grid (Bob Jordan calling quarters 'great' as consensus EBIT collapsed 85%). Slide 31 'Entrenched Views' uses checkmark-vs-quote competitive matrix (Delta/United/American all check, Southwest absolutist denial quotes). Aircraft-worth-more-than-EV framing on p18 echoes the McDonald's real-estate trope. Custom 'Stronger Southwest' brand wrapper with Southwest's blue/yellow/red palette is clever appropriation. Closing 'Next Steps' staircase (p50) sets a year-end-2024 deadline. Campaign ultimately succeeded: Bob Jordan stayed but Gary Kelly and most of the board were replaced via Sept 2024 settlement.