Bob Jordan, CEO of Southwest Airlines, listens to questions from media during Southwest Airlines Investor day at Southwest Airlines Headquarters on September 26 in Dallas (Sam Hodde for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Southwest hasn't pulled out of the turbulence yet, but it gets to keep its pilot

Meanwhile, former CEO Gary Kelly, who’s currently executive chairman, “will accelerate his retirement” in a deal with activist investors.

J. Edward Moreno

10/24/24 10:54AM

Southwest Airlines said Thursday that it reached a deal with activist investor Elliott Investment Management that would allow CEO Bob Jordan to keep his job, avoiding a brewing proxy fight.

The deal adds six new directors, five of them picked by Elliott, to the airline’s board, which will be reduced to 13 members next year. They include Pierre Breber, the former chief financial officer of Chevron, and David Cush, former CEO of Virgin America.

Elliott was reportedly pushing to oust Jordan. While he was able to keep his job, former longtime CEO and current executive chairman Gary Kelly “will accelerate his retirement” and walk out the door November 1.

Airlines went through a rough patch during the pandemic, taking on loads of debt while revenue dropped. But Southwest hasn’t enjoyed the same level of postpandemic recovery that its peers have.

Southwest Airlines share price took a beating before Elliott announced a $2 billion stake in June. The company recently said it would scrap its love-it-or-hate-it cattle-call boarding in favor of assigning seats like other airlines.

There may be a light at the end of the tunnel: the company reported better-than-expected earnings on Thursday.

Max Knoblauch

18h

Spotify expands its anti-AI verified badges to podcasts

Spotify introduced verified badges for musician profiles in late April.

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Tom Jones20h

Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind’s CEO and founder, was also an early Anthropic investor

A chess prodigy and an actual a knight of the realm in the UK, it’s perhaps no surprise that Demis Hassabis has made some strategic moves about his exposure to AI upside. According to people familiar with the matter, the influential AI architect became an angel investor in Anthropic, currently behind many of the leading AI models, per Arena AI leaderboards.

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

Max Knoblauch5/18/26

Jury rules against Musk in lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman

Jurors in Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and OpenAI found the defendants not liable on all claims on Monday.

In a unanimous verdict reached after less than two hours of deliberation, the Oakland jury found that Musk had waited too long to bring his case forward, exceeding the statute of limitations.

Musk had alleged that OpenAI abandoned its founding mission as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for humanity and instead became a profit-driven company closely tied to Microsoft.

The verdict caps off a three-week blockbuster tech trial that could have seen Altman and Brockman removed from OpenAI leadership.

Jury tosses Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman

Musk had alleged that OpenAI abandoned its founding mission as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for humanity and instead became a profit-driven company closely tied to Microsoft.

The verdict caps off a three-week blockbuster tech trial that could have seen Altman and Brockman removed from OpenAI leadership.

Millie Giles

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Swatch’s collaboration with Audemars Piguet could help bring hype back to its bottom line

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