After Boeing Losses Triple, New CEO Takes the Helm
Boeing is hoping their new CEO can steer the company through probably the most difficult time in its storied history.
According to business reports, Boeing losses the previous quarter were at $1.4 billion
As a new CEO takes over, Boeing announced its second quarter losses were triple what they were one year ago.
According to sources, including CNN business:
"Boeing announced Robert “Kelly” Ortberg, former CEO of supplier Rockwell Collins, will be its new CEO, effective August 8, replacing retiring Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun, who has been under fire for the company’s problems."
Ortberg said there is a lot of work to be done, and many market experts say his appointment is a positive sign. Ortberg is more of a return to a CEO who comes from a technical and aeronautic background, as opposed to finance. His college degree was in mechanical engineering.
Many critics have said Boeing began to lose its focus and way when a series of top executives who took over a number of years ago all came from a financial background. Critics, and even some whistleblowers, claim these execs put too much emphasis on the financial profit performance which resulted in the erosion of product quality.
According to CNN, the naming of Ortberg is a good sign for the company:
"Even one of Boeing’s harshest critics found hope in the appointment of Ortberg.
“The arrival of a new CEO at Boeing could not have happened at a more crucial and necessary time for the safety of the traveling public around the world,” said Robert Clifford, attorney for the families of 737 Max crash victims. He said that under Muilenberg, Calhoun, and Boeing’s “do nothing” board, the company has been in a “nosedive.”