Southwest Airlines (LUV) announced a settlement with Elliott Investment Management Thursday morning, ending a months-long 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:battle with the activist investor that has been calling for signifi🌜cant leadership and business strategy changes at the carrier.

Southwest agreed to reduce its board to 13 seats by its 2025 shareholder meeting, with 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Elliott-sponsored candidates set to take five of those spots, with a sixth replacement seat going to former Chevron (CVX) CFO Pierre Breber. The new board members will replace six retiring members— including Executive Chairman Gary Kelly, who previously served as Southwest's CEO—on November 1, the company said.

As part of the settlement, Elliott has agreed to drop its 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:call for a December special shareholder meeting as Elliott Partner John Pike and Portfolio Manager Bobby Xu said they believe the air🥃line is now well positioned to "enhance business performance, drive operational execution and evaluate additional changes to create long-term shareholder value."

Third-Quarter Earnings Top Expectations

News of the settlement came shortly after Southwest reported third-quarterl🎃y results that exceeded Wall Street expectations.

The airline reported $6.87 billion in total revenue, up nearly 6% from the same time last year and a bit better than analyst estimates compiled by Visible Alpha. 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Net income fell sharply year-over-year to $67 million from $193 million last year, but didn't fall as far as analysts had projected, to $19.8 million.

The airline also said it 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:plans to buy back $250 million in stock in the fourth quarter, the first "accelerated share repurchase program" since it announced a new $2.5 billion stock buyback 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:plan last month.

Southwest shares were down nearly 2% in premarket trading about an hour before the opening bell. Through Wednesday's close, the stock had risen 6% so far in 2024, significantly lagging the S&P 500's 22% gain over the period.