Southwest Airlines‘ (NYSE: LUV)Board of Directors, at its meeting held today, authorized a new sharerepurchase program to acquire up to $300 million of the Company’s common stock.
DALLAS - Based on yesterday's close price of $14.88, this represents approximately
20.2 million shares of common stock.
Gary C. Kelly, Vice Chairman and CEO, stated: "Today's announcement
affirms our confidence in our future growth opportunities and plans, as well as our continued commitment to increase Shareholder value. While our number one
priority remains to profitably grow our route system, our strong balance sheet and liquidity allows us to use our capital base to further enhance Shareholder
value over the long-term. This new $300 million authorization is in addition to the $400 million buyback program initiated in November 2006, which was
completed this month. Since the beginning of 2006, we have completed three buyback programs and have repurchased 62.1 million shares of common stock for a
total of $1 billion."
Repurchases will be made in accordance with applicable securities laws in the open market or in private transactions, from time to time, depending on
market conditions, and may be discontinued at any time.Southwest has approximately 785 million shares of common stock outstanding. Any shares that are repurchased may be retired or used to fund the Company's
Employee stock plans.
