JetBlue has lost two board representatives linked to activist investor Carl Icahn after his stake in the airline dropped below the ownership level needed to keep both seats. Jesse Lynn and Steven D. Miller stepped down from the board, leaving JetBlue with 11 directors, 10 of them independent.
The changes follow a 2024 agreement between JetBlue and Icahn Enterprises that gave Icahn representation on the board in exchange for minimum ownership and governance terms. JetBlue’s latest filing showed Icahn’s holding at 3.32% as of 20 August, and the airline received notice the following day that the threshold for both seats had no longer been met.
Lynn, general counsel of Icahn Enterprises, and Miller, a portfolio manager at Icahn Capital, departed without any dispute over JetBlue’s operations, policies or practices. The move further reduces Icahn’s direct influence at the airline, where he first took a sizeable stake while describing the carrier as undervalued.