News
Boeing Shareholders Reelect Outgoing CEO Dave Calhoun to Board
Boeing (BA) shareholders decided on Friday that CEO Dave Calhoun can remain on the company’s board despite a developing crisis that began under his watch.
Calhoun has already announced that he will step down as chief at the end of the year.
During the plane maker’s annual shareholder meeting on Friday, shareholders voted for Calhoun to remain a director, along with 10 independent nominees to the board.
Shareholders also approved a nearly $33 million executive compensation package for Calhoun, covering work performed in 2023. The amount exceeded Calhoun’s compensation target of $25.5 million.
Dave Calhoun, Boeing’s outgoing CEO, will remain on the company’s board. (REUTERS/David Ryder/Files) (Reuters/Reuters)
The shareholder support comes as Boeing works to assure regulators, legislatorsinvestors and the public that their planes are airworthy after a mid-air explosion of a fuselage section that separated from an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 jet in January.
A preliminary investigation by the National Transportation Safety Bureau showed four screws intended to hold the door in place were missing.
There were no deaths, although passengers and crew on board suffered injuries.
Boeing is currently under criminal investigation by the Department of Justice for its role in the explosion.
The Justice Department told a judge this week that Boeing violated a previous deferred prosecution agreement that allowed it to avoid criminal prosecution following two catastrophic crashes of Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft in 2018 and 2019.
It is now up to the Department of Justice to criminally charge Boeing, and will decide on this issue by July 7th.
Calhoun joined the board in 2009 and assumed the role of CEO in January 2020, following the two 737 Max crashes.
These accidents, which happened while his predecessor Dennis Muilenburg was CEO, killed all 346 passengers and crew on board.
Boeing President Steven Mollenkopf. (REUTERS/Mike Blake) (REUTERS/Reuters)
Boeing’s new chairman, Steven Mollenkopf, acknowledged during Friday’s shareholder meeting that the coming months and years are “extremely important” as the company takes steps to regain lost trust.
“Recent events make it absolutely clear that we have more work to do and that we must improve every day,” said Mollenkopf.
Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on Twitter @alexiskweed.
Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events that move stock prices.
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance