United’s Dissident Stockholders Say Board Is Misleading Stakeholders
Photo Credit: Gordon Bethune, former chairman of the Board and CEO, Continental Airlines, is running on a dissident slated for a director position on the board of United Continental Holdings. Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press
Skift Take
The dissident shareholders at United are facing an uphill battle in their proxy fight as CEO Oscar Munoz has garnered a great deal of support from United's unions/employees. The hedge funds claim, though, that they support Munoz and only want to equip him to do a better job by putting in place a more experienced board.
As the United board lines up its unions against a proxy fight, dissident shareholders, who own more than 7 percent of the airline, say the board is misleading stakeholders about their effort to win six seats on the currently 15-member United board.
The dissidents, including Altimeter Capital Management, PAR Capital Management and former Continental CEO Gordon Bethune, who hopes to win a seat on the board, and perhaps to become chairman, delivered a letter [embedded below] to the United board seeking to correct the record.
“We have been continuously invested in United for more than six years,” said Brad Gerstner, CEO of Altimeter Capital and a former Orbitz board member. “After years of watching the incumbent Board supervise United’s chronic underperformance, we have stepped forward to nominate six outstanding professionals with deep expertise in airline operations, marketing, technology, revenue management, and major turn-around situations. We believe that replacing six
