United fails to confirm new CEO's hospitalisation until 24 hours later

Southfield, Michigan

AFTER Oscar Munoz missed a summit with United Airlines union leaders, the carrier told employees that their new chief executive officer "was unable to attend". He had suffered a heart attack, a person familiar with the matter said, and United did not confirm his hospitalisation until almost 24 hours later. For a company that had just brought in a new boss to shore up its business, the lag time between the emergency on Thursday and its disclosure on Friday was too long, recruiters and scholars said.

"Shareholders don't have a right to know what the CEO had for dinner," said Erik Gordon, a professor with the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. "But the argument about privacy goes out the window if the CEO has a serious health issue."