Southwest Airlines LUV
The three reasons
- 1
Worst-performing management team in airlines has destroyed more value than any peer
- 2
Eight revenue guidance cuts in 18 months signal deteriorating performance
- 3
Board adopted shareholder-unfriendly poison pill to entrench itself
Primary demands
- Nominate ten independent directors to the Southwest board
- Replace current CEO and management team
- Restore efficiency to continue offering low fares
- Modernize product offering to align with customer preferences
- Facilitate investment in technology and new assets
KPIs cited
Pattern membership
Where this document fits across the library's 12 rhetorical / structural patterns.
Notable slides (3)
Notes
DFAN14A SEC filing reproducing screenshots of Elliott's 'Stronger Southwest' campaign microsite (strongersouthwest.com). Not a traditional deck or letter — it is a capture of the landing page, nominees page, letters index, press releases index, and contact page. Memorable rhetorical device: two large pull-quotes attributed to 'Top Ten Active Shareholder' — 'worst-performing management team in airlines...they need to go' and 'The CEO is a headwind to a turnaround. Firing him is the tailwind.' Microsite uses the Southwest brand palette (navy/red/gold) to co-opt the target's identity. Campaign later resulted in a settlement: Elliott got board seats and CEO Bob Jordan stayed on initially, while chairman Gary Kelly departed.