Boeing says sacked CEO Dennis Muilenburg won’t get severance pay after botched handling of 737 MAX crashes
- He must also forfeit stock awards worth tens of millions of dollars and won’t receive bonus for 2019, aerospace giant says
- Company lost more than US$50 billion in market value after incidents led to global flight ban on troubled aircraft
Former Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg will not get severance and must forfeit stock awards worth tens of millions of dollars after his botched handling of two deadly plane crashes ended a decades-long career at the company.
He forfeited unvested equity awards that could have been worth as much as US$31 million if certain targets had been exceeded, Chicago-based Boeing said Friday in a regulatory filing. Muilenburg, 56, also will not receive a bonus for 2019.
The loss of awards and absence of severance compensation sends a strong signal about the board’s loss of confidence in the once-heralded CEO.
It marks a swift fall for Muilenburg, whose 34-year career unravelled last year in the aftermath of two accidents involving the firm’s 737 MAX aircraft, which killed 346 people. The crashes prompted a global flight ban of the aircraft, damaged the planemaker’s reputation and lopped more than US$50 billion off its market value.
Muilenburg tried for months to help the firm regain its footing. But directors lost confidence after he struggled to defend Boeing before US lawmakers, failed to repair its relationship with the Federal Aviation Administration and repeatedly underestimated the time needed to get the grounded aeroplanes back in operation.