United CEO Oscar Munoz Suffers Heart Attack: Wall St. Journal

The new CEO of United Continental Holdings Inc., Oscar Munoz, suffered a heart attack Thursday, reports the Wall St. Journal. Munoz has been in charge for just a month.

The airline confirms Munoz, 56, was hospitalized Thursday in Chicago but has not stated a reason.

“We have been informed by Oscar’s family that he was admitted to the hospital on Thursday and we will provide further details as appropriate. In the meantime, we are continuing to operate normally,” reads a statement posted on the company’s website.

United’s stock dipped 4 percent after the heart attack was reported, and was trading at about $55 a share Friday afternoon.

As a first step to improve United’s performance, Munoz took out newspaper ads apologizing for the company’s frequent service lapses and overall poor performance. Since United’s merger with Continental in 2009, those problems only worsened.

Munoz took over for former CEO Jeff Smisek in September.

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