NETJETS BACK IN BLACK, SOKOL TO STEP DOWN
NetJets has returned to growth in the first half of 2010 with a $114 million profit for its parent company, Berkshire Hathaway. Revenues increased by 16% in the first quarter of 2010, and 17% in the second. The improvement was attributed to a worldwide increase in paid flight hours.
However, revenue from aircraft management was lower due to a reduced number of aircraft under management. The company also had to pay an $18.7 million guarantee fee to its parent. NetJets reported a full-year loss of $349 million in 2009, although this figure included $255 million in asset write-downs and downsizing costs.
Since David Sokol became Chairman and CEO in August 2009, NetJets has shed staff, cancelled orders for new jets, and reduced its fleet of aircraft. The most recent cutbacks came in June when the company announced that plans for a $200 million headquarters in Columbus, Ohio had been replaced by a $21 million update to its existing facility at Port Columbus Regional Airport. Sokol’s extensive cost-cutting has come into some criticism from Jim Jacobs, one of the co-founders of NetJets, who left the company in January 2010.
Sokol has announced that his role as head of NetJets will come to an end by the first quarter of 2011. Speaking on Bloomberg Television News, Sokol said he expected to transition the title of CEO to one of the 16 members of his executive team, though he did not name a successor.
