Boeing in brief
The Boeing Company is the largest U.S. aerospace manufacturer and one of two companies, with Airbus, that build large commercial jets. Founded by William E. Boeing in Seattle in 1916 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia since 2022, it reported $89.5 billion of revenue and about 182,000 employees in 2025. Kelly Ortberg has been president and CEO since August 2024.
How Boeing makes money
Boeing reports three segments. Commercial Airplanes sells the 737 MAX, 767, 777 and 787 and produced $41.5 billion of 2025 revenue, but it lost $7.1 billion from operations, mainly because of $5.3 billion of 777X and 767 reach-forward losses. Defense, Space & Security brought in $27.2 billion from fighters, tankers, helicopters, satellites and space systems. Global Services earned $20.9 billion selling parts, maintenance and training to a fleet that includes more than 13,000 Boeing commercial jets in service, and it is the most profitable part of the company, with an 18.1% operating margin in the first half of 2026.
The airplane business works on long cycles. Customers pay deposits years ahead, but most of an airplane's price arrives at delivery, so Boeing's revenue and cash flow track how many jets leave its factories. That is why the delivery count, 348 in 2024 and 600 in 2025, matters more to investors than new orders.
From the 707 to the 737 MAX crisis
Boeing's commercial lead came from risky bets. In 1952 it spent about $16 million, roughly its net worth, on the Dash 80 prototype that became the 707, and in the late 1960s the 747 nearly bankrupted it before becoming the defining long-haul jet. The 1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas made Boeing the only U.S. maker of large airliners, and many former employees and analysts say it also shifted the culture toward cost cutting and shareholder returns.
That debate sharpened after two 737 MAX crashes, Lion Air in October 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines in March 2019, killed 346 people. Both involved MCAS flight-control software acting on a single faulty sensor. The jet was grounded for 20 months, and Boeing faced a federal fraud case that was finally dismissed in November 2025 under a $1.1 billion non-prosecution agreement. Then, on January 5, 2024, a door plug blew out of a new Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 because four bolts had not been reinstalled at the factory. The FAA capped 737 output at 38 a month, and CEO Dave Calhoun announced his departure.
The recovery under Kelly Ortberg
Ortberg arrived from outside the company in August 2024, weeks before 33,000 machinists began a 53-day strike. Boeing raised about $24 billion of equity, sold Jeppesen, ForeFlight and other digital units to Thoma Bravo for $10.55 billion, and on December 8, 2025 bought back Spirit AeroSystems, the Wichita fuselage maker it had sold in 2005. The FAA raised the 737 cap to 42 a month in October 2025. Boeing posted net earnings of $2.2 billion for 2025, its first annual profit since 2018, although the sale gain accounted for the profit.
In 2026 the recovery continued unevenly. Boeing delivered 171 jets in the second quarter, its most in a quarter since 2018, cut consolidated debt to $45.9 billion and grew its backlog to a record $715 billion. The FAA certified the 737-7 in August, but on September 28 it held 737-10 certification over a flight-management software issue. A day later the U.S. Navy picked Boeing to build its F/A-XX fighter, adding to the Air Force F-47 contract it won in 2025.
Competitors
Airbus is Boeing's main rival. It delivered 793 jets in 2025 to Boeing's 600 and has taken the lead in large single-aisle planes with the A321neo, although Boeing booked more orders in 2025. In defense and space Boeing competes with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX, General Dynamics and SpaceX, and China's COMAC is building a domestic alternative with the C919.
What to watch
The next milestones are 737-10 and 777-9 certification, with first deliveries of both planned for 2027, the move to 47 737s a month, a contract vote by about 17,000 SPEEA engineers and technicians in October 2026, and third-quarter results on October 27, 2026.