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A Boeing plane in production.
A Boeing plane in production earlier this year. (Jennifer Buchanan / AFP via Getty Images)

Boeing has lost $28 billion since 737 MAX crashes

For decades, Boeing was a profit machine. Two plane crashes triggered a string of problems the company has yet to recover from.

Boeing announced a new CEO on Wednesday morning, marking the second time the jet maker has swapped out its top executive since two of its 737 MAXes crashed, killing hundreds of people on board. Since then, the company has been mired in problems, and its bottom line has been bathed in red ink.

Alongside the CEO announcement, Boeing said it posted a loss of $1.44 billion for the latest quarter. That brings the total amount of net losses the company has incurred since the second quarter of 2019 to a staggering $27.8 billion, according to FactSet data. 

Boeing has been in dire straits for years following the two 737 MAX crashes, which happened in October 2018 and March 2019. Then in January 2024, a section of a Boeing Alaska Airlines jet blew out. Terrifying videos of the incident flooded the internet and intense scrutiny of the company’s manufacturing processes followed. The Justice Department opened an investigation into the issue.

The company also agreed earlier this month to plead guilty to misleading regulators in the run-up to the two 737 MAX crashes.

Kelly Ortberg will step in after Dennis Muilenburg and David Calhoun were unable to set the company back on course. It’s a job that was hard to hire for: The Wall Street Journal reported in June that “several high-profile candidates” had turned the company down. 

Now Ortberg faces the enormous task of pulling Boeing out of the muck of all its mounting issues: a quality crisis, production slowdowns, labor negotiations, and a yearslong reputation problem.

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Paramount sues Warner Bros. for more info on its deal with Netflix, says it plans to nominate new directors

It’s a fresh week and that means a fresh bit of escalation in the ongoing Warner Bros. Discovery merger drama.

At an upcoming meeting, Paramount Skydance plans to “nominate a slate of [WBD] directors who, in accordance with their fiduciary duties, will... enter into a transaction with Paramount,” CEO David Ellison wrote in a letter to WBD shareholders disclosed on Monday.

Ellison also said that Paramount sued WBD in Delaware court in an effort to force the board to disclose “basic information” that will allow shareholders to make an informed decision between Paramount’s offer and one from Netflix. WBD shares dipped about 2% on Monday morning.

The latest update follows Paramount’s move last week to reaffirm — but not raise — its $30-per-share offer for WBD. Some saw that decision as Paramount effectively throwing in the towel on its merger hopes, given that the same deal has been rejected twice by the WBD board and winning over shareholders directly is a difficult process. Monday’s disclosure appears to signal that whether it loses or not, Paramount isn’t going to make Netflix’s acquisition easy.

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Ford to bring eyes-off driving to its new EV platform by 2028

Ford is wading into the autonomous race against rivals like Tesla and GM.

On Wednesday evening, the Detroit automaker said it plans to introduce “Level 3” eyes-off systems to vehicles being built on its new production platform in Louisville by 2028. The first vehicle planned for the platform is a $30,000 midsize EV truck, planned for 2027.

In an interview with Reuters, Ford Chief EV and Design Officer Doug Field said the tech would not come at the $30,000 price point and would cost extra. Field said the company is still weighing just how much extra, and whether the system should be sold via a subscription model.

According to Ford, the eyes-off and hands-off tech will utilize lidar. Ford shares ticked up slightly in premarket trading on Thursday.

In August, Reuters reported that Ford rival Stellantis had shelved its Level 3 program due to high costs.

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