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  • Honeywell to split in three after pressure from activist investor Elliott Management

    Honeywell to split in three after pressure from activist investor Elliott Management

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    • Industrial and aerospace giant Honeywell said on Thursday it will split into three independently listed companies.
    • Honeywell said it will separate its aerospace and automation businesses into separate entities, alongside its previously announced spin-off of the advanced materials unit.
    • Honeywell said it intends to complete the separation in the second half of 2026, which would be tax-free for its shareholders.

    Honeywell said on Thursday it will split into three independently listed companies, breaking up one of America’s last standing conglomerates just months after activist investor Elliott Management took a $5 billion stake in the industrial giant.

    Honeywell’s shares, however, fell nearly 2.5% in premarket trade, reversing course from early gains after the company forecast downbeat sales and profit for 2025.

    The company said it will separate its aerospace and automation businesses into separate entities, alongside its previously announced spin-off of the advanced materials unit.

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    With Honeywell’s decision, the ranks of the nation’s leading industrial conglomerates have dwindled even further, following similar choices in recent years by 3M, General Electric and United Technologies to split off major divisions.

    The industrial and aerospace giant has been on a deal-making spree under CEO Vimal Kapur, shedding assets that are not focused on the aviation, automation and energy sectors.

    Despite several smaller moves, Elliott, whose stake in Honeywell is its largest single investment, argued the company needed to split.

    An aircraft engine is tested at Honeywell Aerospace in Phoenix, Arizona, on September 6, 2016. Honeywell announced that it will split into three separate companies. (Reuters/Alwyn Scott/File Photo / Reuters)

    Honeywell attracted Elliott’s attention as its stock price underperformed the market. Its shares had risen 7.7% in 2024 until November 11, a day before Elliott disclosed its position, while the broader market had gained 26.6% in the same period.

    Analysts had previously estimated Honeywell’s high-margin aerospace business could be worth between $90 billion and $120 billion, including debt.

    The airline industry, faced with a shortage of new jets, has had to resort to flying older, more maintenance-intensive planes during a travel boom, pushing up sales for players such as Honeywell that provide aftermarket services and parts.

    The aerospace unit is Honeywell’s biggest revenue generator, accounting for about 40% of the company’s total revenue in 2024, and counts Boeing and Airbus among its customers. It also has contracts with the U.S. government, providing communication and navigation systems, among other services.

    Honeywell said it will separate its aerospace, automation and advanced materials units into three distinct entities.

    Honeywell said it will separate its aerospace, automation and advanced materials units into three distinct entities. (Reuters/Denis Balibouse/File Photo / Reuters)

    Honeywell had announced plans to spin off its advanced materials unit into a publicly traded company in October. It said in December it was considering a spinoff of its aerospace business, after Elliott’s push.

    The company said it intends to complete the separation in the second half of 2026, which would be tax-free for its shareholders.

    Elliott’s push is not the first time Honeywell has faced activist pressure to break up the company. In 2017, it managed to shrug off Daniel Loeb’s Third Point, which urged the company to spin off its aerospace division.

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    The industrial giant has been pruning its portfolio through a string of divestments and acquisitions, but such a large break-up would be a first for the more than 100-year-old company.

    It separately forecast an adjusted profit per share of between $10.10 and $10.50 for 2025, falling short of analysts’ average estimate of $10.93 according to data compiled by LSEG.

    Its sales expectations of between $39.6 billion and $40.6 billion for the year also fell short of Wall Street expectations of $41.22 billion.

  • Expert puts onus on FAA for American Airlines, helicopter crash: ‘Bad management’ is ‘putting us at risk’

    Expert puts onus on FAA for American Airlines, helicopter crash: ‘Bad management’ is ‘putting us at risk’

    Boyd Group International President and aviation expert Mike Boyd discusses the FAA’s role in the plane crash near Reagan National Airport as the investigation transitions into a recovery mission.

    As more than 60 people are feared dead following a tragic midair plane collision over Ronald Reagan National Airport, one aviation expert is sending a “wake-up call” to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

    “It’s our system that is bad and that’s what has to be looked at. To be honest with you… we need to take a bulldozer to the front of the FAA. This is bad management, and it’s putting us at risk,” Boyd Group International President Mike Boyd said in reaction on “Mornings with Maria,” Thursday.

    “This is a problem we have with air traffic control. Mr. Duffy has to do something about this,” he continued. “We messed around with air traffic control for 30 years. Now we have deaths in the Potomac because of it. So this is a wake-up call for the new administration, which means, fix the FAA and fix it soon before more people die.”

    An American Airlines plane carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter outside Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C. on Wednesday evening. Three soldiers were onboard the helicopter and a massive search and recovery operation is now unfolding in the Potomac River.

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    John Donnelly, chief of the District of Columbia Fire Department, said Thursday that “we don’t think there are any survivors from this accident,” adding that at least 27 bodies have been recovered.

    A helicopter flies near the crash site of the American Airlines plane on the Potomac River after the plane crashed on approach to Reagan National Airport on January 30, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. (Getty Images)

    The Army told Fox News Digital that the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter was “from Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, out of Davison Army Airfield, Fort Belvoir” and was conducting a “training flight.” They were a “fairly experienced” crew and reportedly had night vision googles aboard the helicopter.

    As federal investigators prepare to review communications between the two aircraft, Boyd expanded on how the FAA holds the majority of responsibility for the crash.

    “We had two flying machines run into each other over the Potomac. That is the FAA’s job to avoid those things,” he argued. “We have all kinds of human issues here. But the fact is, we’ve had near-miss after near-miss for the past 20 years. Now we’ve had a collision. The collision is the responsibility of the FAA and the air traffic control system. Somebody failed.”

    Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy provides details during an update on the midair collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army Helicopter.

    “There was a major failure here, and that helicopter shouldn’t have been there. The airplane should have, but not the helicopter.”

    Newly-appointed U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated in a Thursday morning press conference that both the American Airlines plane and Army helicopter were in a “standard flight pattern” when they collided in midair. Duffy also told reporters: “Do I think this was preventable? Absolutely.”

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    Aviation expert Captain Mike Coffield breaks down the response process and investigation following a midair collision between a regional airline jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter.

    “Something was wrong with the system, and that means people died because of it. Which means Mr. Duffy has to turn around and say, ‘Something was really wrong here. We have to change it and change it right now,’” Boyd said.

    “I fear he’s just going to warm that seat like his predecessors did. And I hope I’m real wrong. But he never even mentioned that at his hearings. He never said anything about the dangers in air traffic control or other things. So this is a wake-up call for the Trump administration.”

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    Fox News staff contributed to this report.