Boeing After McDonnell Douglas: $60B Buybacks, the 737 MAX and a Door Plug

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William E. Boeing, a lumber industrialist, founded his company in Seattle in 1916, and by 1934 antitrust law split it into pieces that became Boeing, United Technologies and United Airlines. For decades engineers set the company's direction. That changed after Boeing acquired McDonnell Douglas in 1997, a deal described as a reverse takeover because McDonnell Douglas executives, including CEO Harry Stonecipher, took top leadership roles. Headquarters moved from Seattle to Chicago in 2001 and to Arlington, Virginia in 2022. Between 2013 and 2019 Boeing spent over $60 billion on stock buybacks and dividends, which critics note is twice the cost of developing the 787 Dreamliner, while collecting advance payments from airlines and delaying payments to suppliers.

Instead of designing a new jet, Boeing put larger engines on the 737 airframe and used MCAS software, fed by a single sensor, to push the nose down. Lion Air Flight 610 crashed in 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in 2019, killing 346 people and grounding 387 MAX jets. In January 2024 a door plug blew out of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, and the NTSB found the plane left the factory missing its retaining bolts. In September 2024 more than 30,000 IAM machinists went on strike, Boeing announced 17,000 layoffs and raised $19 billion in a share sale, and the walkout ended with a 38% raise over four years. Boeing also agreed to buy back Spirit AeroSystems for $4.7 billion.

• In March 2023 court filings, Boeing disputed that Ethiopian Airlines victims experienced pain, arguing the impact happened at the speed of sound.
• Boeing paid a $200 million penalty for misleading investors about safety issues tied to the 737 MAX crashes.
• The board blocked a shareholder proposal to move the headquarters back to the Seattle area.
• In December 2025 China sanctioned a Boeing facility over Taiwan arms sales, then agreed in May 2026 to buy 200 Boeing jets.
• Boeing reported that each jet it delivered in 2020 will add about 1 million tons of CO2 over its lifespan.