Boeing’s CEO got compensation worth nearly $33 million last year but lost a $3 million bonus
Boeing CEO David Calhoun received compensation valued at $33 million last year, nearly all of it in stock awards, but his stock payout for this year will be cut by nearly one-fourth because of the drop in Boeing’s share price since the January blowout of a panel on one of its planes in midflight.
The company said Friday that after the accident on the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max, Calhoun declined a bonus for 2023 that was targeted at nearly $3 million.
Calhoun announced this month that he will step down at the end of the year as Boeing deals with multiple investigations into the quality and safety of its manufacturing.
The company said in a regulatory filing that Calhoun got a salary of $1.4 million last year and stock awards valued at $30.2 million. Including other items, his compensation totaled $32.8 million, up from $22.6 million in 2022.
Since Jan. 5, when a door-plug panel blew off an Alaska Airlines Max jetliner flying 16,000 (4,800 meters) feet above Oregon, Boeing has been thrust into its deepest crisis since a pair of deadly crashes involving Max jets in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia.
The Federal Aviation Administration, National Transportation Safety Board and Justice Department have launched separate investigations into the company. The FAA is limiting Boeing’s production of 737s until the company meets the agency’s safety concerns.
Boeing said Calhoun and other top executives will see their stock awards for this year reduced by about 22%, which the company said matched the drop in the share price from the accident until the stock-grant date.
Boeing shares have fallen 26% since the panel blowout, through the end of regular trading Friday.
“The months and years ahead are critically important for The Boeing Company to take the necessary steps to regain the trust lost in recent times, to get back on track and perform like the company we all know Boeing can and must be, every day,” the company’s new chairman, Steve Mollenkopf, said in a letter to shareholders. “The world needs a healthy, safe, and successful Boeing. And that is what it is going to get.”
Calhoun has been CEO since January 2020, when Max jets were still grounded worldwide after the two crashes.
“While the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 accident shows that Boeing has much work yet to do, the Board believes that Mr. Calhoun has responded to this event in the right way by taking responsibility for the accident” and “taking important steps to strengthen Boeing’s quality assurance,” the company said in Friday’s filing.
Calhoun previously lost a $7 million bonus for 2022 after Boeing failed to get a new 777X jetliner in service. The board said the plane fell behind schedule for many reasons including some of Calhoun’s decisions.
Boeing, which is based in Arlington, Virginia, will hold its annual meeting online on May 17.
