The tale of United and its falling profits, Gordon and disaffected shareholders

© Jorg Hackemann

Much corporate shenanigans over at United – well-explained by ATW. The shareholder revolt, caused by concern over the lack of airline experience on the board, has been quelled by the appointment of former Air Canada chief Robert Milton as chairman. More interesting is how two shareholders forced United’s hand by threatening it with Gordon Bethune, former CEO of Continental – in the same corporate camp as Jeff Smisek, not everyone’s favourite CEO. It is all coming out as the airline reports a 34% fall in net profit to $313m for the first quarter. Clearly, something needs to change.