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News 14/12/2005   

Godfrey: board doesn't run Virgin
 
Virgin Blue ceo Brett Godfrey claims he does not care who controls the airline because it is his management team that is really in charge.

Godfrey’s comment yesterday followed Virgin Group boss Richard Branson's reiteration that he had plans to implement changes if he regained control of the airline in the fallout of a successful takeover of Patrick Corp by Toll Holdings.

But Godfrey said what happened at the shareholder level would not affect the running of the carrier.

He said management ran the airline and put forward strategy to the board to be accepted or rejected.

Patrick holds a controlling stake in Virgin Blue but that is set to be partially sold off to entities controlled by Branson if Toll's $4.6 billion takeover succeeds.

Godfrey said management did not look to the board for day-to-day ideas on how to improve the airline, but rather for overall guidance.

He said he did not know when the Patrick-Toll battle would be resolved and claimed he did not care.

People were far too generous in terms of the praise for how shareholders influenced a company, Godfrey said.

14 December 2005


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