United proxy fight shifts online

A proxy fight for United Continental’s board has headed to the internet.

Altimeter Capital Management and Par Capital Management, hedge funds that have proposed their own slate of directors to help turn around a company they say is trailing its peers, launched a website Tuesday where they will tout the credentials of their six nominees. The site, UnitedCourseCorrection.com, will also be a space for the funds to continue to lay out their case for new board leadership in the weeks leading up to the stockholder meeting that is expected to occur in June,

"We believe that the current United Continental Holdings . . .Board of Directors is under-qualified, ineffective, complacent and entrenched,'' reads the opening salvo on the site. " Despite some of the most strategically valuable assets in the airline industry, under the leadership of the current Board, UAL has been the worst performing U.S. airline stock during the last five years.''

The battle over the composition and direction of United’s board erupted on March 8, when Par and Altimeter – who together own roughly 7.1% of the airline company’s stock – first officially proposed their own minority slate of directors, including Gordon Bethune, a respected industry veteran credited with resurrecting Continental Airlines in the 1990’s.

Since then, there has been a flurry of letters, statements, and even a planned picket by United employees of the hedge funds' headquarters on April 6, as the opposing factions prepare for a showdown at the company’s annual shareholder’s meeting.

United has endured numerous struggles in recent years. Its CEO Oscar Munoz rose to power in September after the previous CEO Jeff Smisek was ousted amid a corruption probe. Then, Munoz suffered a heart attack just weeks after he was appointed, underwent a heart transplant in January and only returned to running the company full time on March 14.

Additionally, the six-year-old merger of United with Continental has been turbulent, marred by technical glitches and stalled union negations. And while the airline has boosted earnings and on-time performance in recent months, by several measures it lags behind its large network peers, American and Delta.

In response to Par and Altimeter's latest action, United said in a statement that  "we remain open to engaging in discussions with shareholders and are focused on creating shareholder value.''