The new Southwest director and IndiGo co-founder Rakesh Gangwal has purchased 3.6 million shares in the airline, valued at over $100 million.
Details surrounding the purchase were included in several Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings published by Southwest on October 2, 2024.
Gangwal purchased the shares on September 30, 2024, and October 1, 2024, in a significant sign that he has confidence in the Southwest leadership.
Southwest announced that Gangwal had been appointed as a member of the company board in July 2024, hoping to draw on his “deep and extensive airline industry experience”.
Southwest’s activist investor Elliott Investment Management has criticized the running of Southwest since the summer and made multiple calls for the airline’s CEO Bob Jordan to be replaced.
Following Southwest’s Investors Day on September 26, 2024, when Jordan set out the airline’s future, Elliot issued a statement that said without “credible leadership” the new strategy would join a “long series of failed improvement initiatives failed improvement initiatives”.
Following his new investment, Gangwal appeared to back the current Southwest leadership and the status quo.
Gangwal told Reuters: “I believe changing the board structure and top leadership beyond what has been already announced, would be counterproductive and not in the best interest of shareholders.”
In a statement on September 10, 2024, Southwest confirmed that Chairman Gary Kelly will voluntarily retire from the board following the 2025 Annual Meeting.
In addition to Kelly, six current directors “informed the Board of their plans to voluntarily step down immediately after the Company’s regularly scheduled Board meeting in November”.
They include David Biegler (Compensation Committee Chairman), Veronica Biggins (Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee Chair), Senator Roy Blunt, Dr. William Cunningham (Lead Director), Dr. Thomas Gilligan (Audit Committee Chairman) and Jill Soltau.