Southwest Airlines and the New York Stock Exchange

[#1]

In late June, Southwest Airlines celebrated its 30^th Anniversary of being listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and our CEO, Gary Kelly, and several other Officers were in New York to celebrate and ring the bell! For those of you who may not know, our ticker symbol is "LUV," which is appropriate for us at Southwest as we do everything with a big heart. Since June 27, 1977 (when our stock was first traded on the New York Exchange), Southwest stock has split 13 times.  So what would this mean to you if you had invested in a maverick airline that was known for crazy antics and hot pants? If you had purchased one share of stock way back when in 1977, your investment today would be worth approximately $3,800 (using the closing price on August 1, 2007). Many of our Employees did just that, and now we have millionaires working at Southwest.  Don't be surprised the next time you are on a flight and see one of our great Employees in action because you just may be talking with a millionaire.  They are like you and me; however, they invested in a great Company, and the return on their investment surpassed their expectations. Other little known facts about our financial info now and then:

	1977	2007
Total Net Income	$7,545,000	$499,000,000*
Total Revenues	$49 million	$9.1 billion*
Total Employees	892	33,195**
Total Aircraft	10	489**
Total Cities Served	9	63**
* - At year-end 2006.
** - At first quarter 2007.

We have come a long way baby!

[joe-mdw-plane-d]

Some amazing numbers aren't they? Good work southwest employees keep it up!

[Leah4]

Yea, Southwest! That's great! Keep up the great work! I LUV SWA. :) SWA is So Wonderfully Awesome!

[chuchoteur]

Hi, maybe questions for Brian, as I'm sure he'll know! :o) what was the original share price back in 1977? how many passengers did Southwest carry back in 1977 compared to today? the Southwest story is still being written, and we will follow it with excitement :o)) Raphael

[blusk]

Raphael, I'm not sure of the original NYSE stock price, but I bet Edna can find out. In 1977, Southwest finished the year with ten aircraft, 892 Employees, and we carried just under 2.4 million Customers. We also opened five new cities that year, Corpus Christi, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, El Paso, and Austin. Nostalgic Blog Boy

[Edna_Ruano]

Raphael, Just wanted to let you know I'm researching your first question. I'll have to tap our Finance folks for this info. I should have some more info by the first of next week. Edna

[chuchoteur]

Hi Edna, thanks so much for looking into it... again sooo Southwest! it was definitely not mandatory :o) Raphael

[Edna_Ruano]

Raphael, I found out more info about our original stock price. It turns out the closing price for Southwest stock was $24.13 (on June 27, 1977). By the way, I also found out more interesting info on how the stock is valued today. It turns out the closing price on August 1, 2007 was $15.77. You may be wondering how could this be the case?? But, you have to read in between the lines to get the overall picture. LetÃ

[chuchoteur]

Hi Edna, thank you so much for researching this! It does make me wish I'd invested in SWA stock back then (if only I'd been born!) :o) I presume that with the dividends paid yearly as well the value you could have got out of the stocks purchased in 1977 would be considerably higher... especially if you had then re-invested in SWA shares! :o))

[joe-mdw-plane-d]

Raphael, Imagine the return Herb has gotten on his original $20,000 he put into this airline! New and improved, now in 32 colors, underneath around the corner over there! Ding! boy joe

[chuchoteur]

Hi Joe! ... however, if you look over the last 30 years and count all the late nights and weekends that Herb has spent in the office working to make Southwest the great airline it is today, I'm pretty sure he earnt every single cent of that wad of cash he has made! Plus all the crazy stuff he's had to do, like arm-wrestling other CEO's etc... does that include danger money? :o)) Raphael *upgraded to 256 colours

[Edna_Ruano]

Raphael, You gave me a good laugh this morning imagining Herb arm wrestle. We have pictures around headquarters capturing that moment. Herb actually had a cost savings with the arm-wrestling he did. We were able to save tons of money in legal fees. All in all, his investment and late nights in Southwest have garnered a nice return on investment.

[joe-mdw-plane-d]

I agree he is worth every cent! The blog has been loading real sllllllloooooowwwwwllllly the last two days. Ding! boy Joe

[Leah4]

I would LUV to invest stock with Southwest! 🙂 I really would. Ding! boy Joe, I've been having the same problem with the blog. Maybe I need to send Brian some more candy corn! 🙂

[Mark23]

I flew on my firmst commercial flight on Southwest between Houston (Hobby) and San Antonio in the spring of 1978. I was nineteen. Let me recount two memories that have always stayed with me. 1) I had my first beer bought for me on that flight . . . by a nun. 2) Hotpants. (Hey, I was nineteen!)

[Victor_Cook__Jr]

Before Katrina I often flew Southwest Airlines from New Orleans to West Palm Beach. Usually I was early enough to be first or second in line with an "A" boarding pass so I could sit in the first row. I saw the company logo on the bulkhead so often I could draw it from memory! On one of those flights it came to me: why not put the company ticker symbol inside the heart of its logo? Wouldn't this remind current shareholders what a great investment they had made? And maybe it would also motivate other passengers to invest. Well, two years later I've put this idea into a post: "Southwest Airlines: Put a Little LUV in Your Logo!" You can read the story on my blog at http://customersandcapital.com/ Enjoy 🙂

[Edna_Ruano]

Victor, Your post was an interesting read. Very interesting! Our ticker symbol -- LUV -- permeates throughout SWA and our culture. Your blog gave me a different perspective I had not thought about. We live and breathe LUV every day at SWA and it's obvious to us; however, it may not be too obvious to others.

[Victor_Cook__Jr]

I'm pleased you found my post interesting. I really had no idea your ticker symbol permeates throughout SWA culture. It's probably because LUV is not just a clever and fluent symbol; it also captures the sprit of the company in a single word! I bet the employees of many companies don't even know what their ticker symbol is. Judging from the semantically challenged tickers associated with 65 of the world's most valuable brands, senior management views their tickers as a meaningless financial index. Maybe Gary Kelly and Herb Kelleher should investigate the idea of actually putting LUV in the heart of your logo in order to find out what impact it has on the number of shareholders. Thank you for publishing my comment on your blog.