Veteran activist investor Carl Icahn's latest involvement in the airline industry deepened on Tuesday. His Icahn Enterprises (IEP -0.12%) successfully installed two of its executives on JetBlue's (JBLU 1.05%) board of directors. That news was encouraging enough to send Icahn Enterprises's stock into positive territory; it closed the day 1.5% higher, in contrast to the 0.6% slump of the S&P 500 index.
The veteran activist investor gets active with JetBlue
After market hours on Friday, JetBlue announced the two appointments in a press release. Icahn Enterprises general counsel Jesse Lynn and Steven Miller, portfolio manager of the company's Icahn Capital subsidiary, will initially serve as non-voting observers on JetBlue's board. They will become full voting members following the airline's annual shareholders meeting this spring.
Icahn, known for being a wily and at times very successful activist investor, and his troops are acting fast with JetBlue. News of the board appointments came only three days after Icahn divulged in a regulatory filing that he had amassed a stake of just under 10% in the air carrier.
In that filing, Icahn wrote that he was not only seeking to place associates on JetBlue's board, he was considering buying more shares in the company.
Interesting timing for a new shareholder's entry
Strategically, JetBlue is in something of a holding pattern. Its ambitious proposed buyout of discount carrier Spirit Airlines has been blocked by the Department of Justice and is currently on appeal. Spirit also has a brand-new CEO, Joanna Geraghty, who officially began the job last week.
