A Phillips 66 refinery in California (Rick Loomis/Getty Images)

Needs more refining

Elliott twists Phillips 66’s arm even more as it builds $2.5 billion stake

The activist investor and oil refiner struck a deal a year ago. Apparently it wasn’t enough.

2/11/25 10:33AM

Phillips 66 might have thought it was out of the woods with Elliott Investment Management a year ago, when it bowed to pressure from the activist investor by agreeing to name one Elliott-approved director to its board and give Elliott input on naming a second.

But the second director never got named, and Elliott reportedly isn’t happy about it. Combine that with the fact that Phillips 66’s stock has fallen more than 25% from its April 2024 peak, and you wind up with today’s news: Elliott is ramping up the pressure again.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Elliott has boosted its stake in the company to a whopping $2.5 billion and plans to push the oil refiner to shuffle its operations to boost its stock price.

Shares of Phillips 66 rose 4.2% in recent trading.

In a press release this morning, Elliott said, “It has become evident that urgent changes are needed” at the company, including selling or spinning off the company’s midstream business, as well as selling interests in a firm called CPChem and some operations in Germany and Austria.

It also said the company needs to review its operations and add independent directors who can “oversee a comprehensive review of the executive leadership team.”

For its part, Elliott has had a decent run of successfully influencing changes at companies it targets, including Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, and Honeywell.

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JetBlue is raising its bag fees as fuel costs squeeze airlines

JetBlue will reportedly hike its bag fees, as the cost of jet fuel continues to climb amid the war in Iran. It’s the latest example of carriers finding ways to push rising costs onto travelers.

Last week, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said that if fuel prices remain elevated, fares would need to rise another 20% for his airline to break even this year.

As CNBC reported, when one airline raises fees, others tend to follow.

Earlier this month, JetBlue hiked its first-quarter outlook for operating revenue per seat mile to between 5% and 7%, saying that strong Q1 demand helped “partially offset additional expenses realized from operational disruptions and rising fuel costs.” Now, the carrier appears to be making moves to further boost revenue to offset those costs.

Earlier on Monday, JetBlue rival Alaska Air lowered its Q1 profit forecast. The refining margins for the carrier’s cheapest fuel option — sourced from Singapore and representing about 20% of Alaska’s overall supply — have spiked 400% since February.

JetBlue did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

JetBlue Airways raises bag fees as fuel prices soar

As CNBC reported, when one airline raises fees, others tend to follow.

JetBlue did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Netflix is hiking its prices again

Netflix is raising its subscription prices for the fourth time in four years, a move first spotted by Android Authority.

Per Netflix’s US pricing page, the cost of an ad-supported plan is climbing $1 to $8.99 per month, while the cost of a standard ad-free plan is going up $2 to $19.99 per month. The premium tier has also risen $2 to $26.99 per month.

The streamer last raised its subscription costs more than a year ago in January 2025. It also hiked prices in 2023, 2022, 2020, and 2019. Netflix shares climbed about 2% on the news.

“Our approach remains the same: we continue offering a range of prices and plans to meet a variety of needs, and as we deliver more value to our members we are updating our prices to enable us to reinvest in quality entertainment and improve their experience by updating our prices,” said a Netflix spokesperson, in a statement to Sherwood News.

Netflix is hiking your prices yet again: Standard, premium, and ad-supported all going up