Two of the best-known Texas companies saw some big changes in 2024. KRLD's Steven Pickering has details on the biggest developments of the year in business.
Dallas-based Southwest Airlines started the year facing some financial pressure. In April, CEO Bob Jordan said they weren't where they wanted to be.
"The airline is running really well, running great operationally, but we're not hitting our financial goals," Jordan said.
A firm called Elliott Investment Management bought up Southwest Airlines stock and started pushing for changes in the way the company was run. They eventually installed several new members on the Board of Directors and Southwest Airlines has said it will drop its "open seating" policy and switch to assigned seats in 2025.
Another Texas-based company had a roller-coaster year in 2024. Austin-based Alamo Drafthouse closed all of its movie theaters in North Texas. Dallas Video Festival founder Bart Weiss said those North Texas theaters had a separate owner as part of a franchise agreement.
"The problem with the Alamos was a lot about the franchising and how much money the owner of the local ones had to pay to keep things going," Weiss said.
In July, the entire Alamo Drafthouse theater chain was purchased by Sony Pictures and they re-opened the DFW theaters a few weeks later.
Also this year, a group announced plans for the Texas Stock Exchange. Founder and CEO James Lee says Texas is already a major player in the financial sector. The Texas Stock Exchange hopes to execute its first trades by the end of 2025 and launch its listing at the beginning of 2026.
DFW International Airport broke ground on Terminal F. CEO Sean Donohue said they need it to keep up with the region’s growing population, and the growing demand for air travel.
"You're going to see airplanes launching behind you literally going to almost every continent in the world," Donohue said.
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