In dollar terms, the calculation favors tens of billions in stock buybacks and vs billions in losses from the crashes. But savings accrued to management stock options and shareholders who cashed out when the stock ran to new highs, whereas costs were borne by forever shareholders and the crash victims.
The AI summary below, as usual, shows data that contradicts its liberal media conclusion that the savings were not meaningful. $40b+ in stock buybacks vs single digit billions in payouts and fines, seems to be a no-brainer in strictly financial terms.
So why does AI parrot liberal media conclusions? Because AI literally pirates their content. That’s what the DMCA lawsuits were about. Doing a Cliffs Notes summary doesn’t make it not piracy.
Savings and Financial Focus under Stonecipher
Harry Stonecipher, a former General Electric (GE) executive who became the president and COO after Boeing’s merger with McDonnell Douglas in 1997, aimed to change Boeing’s culture “so that it is run like a business rather than a great engineering firm”. This shift involved several key financial decisions:
Prioritizing existing models: Stonecipher rejected proposals to design an all-new single-aisle aircraft to replace older models, opting instead to maximize profits from the existing 737 airframe.
Stock buybacks: The “savings” from not investing in a new plane and other cost-cutting measures were redirected towards enriching shareholders through stock buybacks. Between 2013 and 2019, Boeing spent $43 billion on buybacks, nearly double its R&D spending.
Outsourcing: There was an increase in outsourcing of jobs, including some software development tasks, to cut costs.
Warning Ignored: One report from around 2002 indicated that the costs of a grounded plane would “dwarf” the short-term savings from outsourcing, a warning that was reportedly ignored.
Claims from 737 Disasters
The two fatal crashes of the 737 MAX 8 in 2018 (Lion Air Flight 610) and 2019 (Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302), which were linked to the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) introduced to compensate for the plane’s new, larger engines, led to the grounding of the entire fleet.
The financial consequences of the disasters and grounding far exceeded any short-term savings:
Direct Costs: Boeing incurred an estimated $20 billion in fines, compensation, and legal fees due to the crashes and subsequent grounding.
Indirect Losses: The company faced more than $60 billion in indirect losses from about 1,200 canceled orders and production issues.
Customer Compensation & Fixes: Over $5 billion was written off for costs related to fixing the stored planes and compensating customers.
Overall Losses: Since 2019, Boeing has bled more than $30 billion in total due to the crisis.
In essence, the managerial revolution that began under Stonecipher led to a culture where the costs of potential safety failures (risk arbitrage) were seemingly deemed less than the immediate financial benefits, a gamble that resulted in catastrophic financial losses and, more importantly, the loss of 346 lives. ]
There were MAX airplanes parked all over the place at Boeing while it was grounded but they tried to keep the production lines open. It was sad to see such massive productivity, which had also been curtailed, just sitting there for years.
And instead of investing in a legacy of innovation and expending energies making NEW models of planes…they are playing even more catch-up now - with the ‘updated’ old ones that keep running into issues.
Boeing could save money by getting rid of all their American citizen (white) engineers and staff and contracting out to an India contractor.
Great idea!
Thank you for the details.
“But who watches the custodians? “