Boeing vs IBM: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: Boeing and IBM side by side

1. 1911IBM

   Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company Founded

   Charles Ranlett Flint merged the Tabulating Machine Company, International Time Recording Company, Computing Scale Company, and Bundy Manufacturing Company to form CTR - the company that would become IBM.

2. 1916Boeing

   Pacific Aero Products Company Incorporated

   William Boeing incorporates Pacific Aero Products Co. on July 15, 1916 in Seattle, a month after the B&W seaplane he built with George Conrad Westervelt first flew from Lake Union on June 15.

3. 1917Boeing

   Renamed The Boeing Airplane Company; First Military Contract

   The company is renamed The Boeing Airplane Company in April 1917 following co-founder George Westervelt's return to active Navy duty, and secures its first meaningful military contract when the U.S. Navy orders the improved Model C floatplane.

4. 1924IBM

   Renamed to International Business Machines

   Under Thomas J. Watson Sr. CTR was renamed International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), reflecting the company's growing international presence and ambition beyond tabulating machines.

5. 1927Boeing

   Boeing Air Transport Wins San Francisco-Chicago Airmail Route

   Boeing forms Boeing Air Transport and wins the U.S. Post Office airmail contract for the San Francisco to Chicago route, the most commercially valuable domestic airmail route, initiating Boeing's involvement in commercial aviation beyond manufacturing.

6. 1933Boeing

   Boeing 247 Introduced as the First Modern Airliner

   Boeing introduces the Model 247, widely recognized as the world's first modern commercial airliner, featuring all-metal construction, retractable landing gear, a cantilevered wing, and variable-pitch propellers.

7. 1952IBM

   IBM 701 - First Commercial Computer

   IBM launched the 701, its first commercially available electronic computer, marking the company's decisive entry into the electronic computing era and beginning its dominance of the mainframe market.

8. 1954Boeing

   Dash 80 Jet Prototype First Flies

   The 367-80, or Dash 80, first flies on July 15, 1954, the company's 38th anniversary. Funded with about $16 million of Boeing's own money, it leads to the KC-135 tanker for the Air Force and the 707 airliner, which enters service with Pan Am in 1958.

9. 1964IBM

   System/360 Launch

   IBM launched the System/360, a compatible family of computers spanning all price points. The $5 billion investment was the largest privately funded project at the time and established the mainframe industry standard for decades.

10. 1969Boeing

    Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet Makes First Flight

    The 747, the first wide-body jetliner, first flies on February 9, 1969 and enters service with Pan Am in January 1970.

11. 1981IBM

    IBM Personal Computer Launch

    IBM introduced the IBM PC, which standardized personal computing architecture and created the PC industry. The open architecture decision inadvertently created the Wintel duopoly that would ultimately commoditize IBM's own PC business.

12. 1993IBM

    Lou Gerstner Arrives - Turnaround Begins

    Louis V. Gerstner Jr. Became CEO as IBM posted $8 billion in losses. His decision to keep IBM intact rather than break it up, and to pivot toward services, saved the company and redefined its business model for the next two decades.

13. 1994Boeing

    Boeing 777 First Flight

    The Boeing 777, the world's largest twin-engine commercial aircraft and the first airliner designed entirely using computer-aided design tools without physical mock-ups, makes its inaugural flight on June 12, 1994.

14. 1997Boeing

    Boeing Merges with McDonnell Douglas

    Boeing completes its $13.3 billion acquisition of McDonnell Douglas, creating a single dominant American aerospace and defense company and ending more than two decades of three-way commercial aircraft competition.

15. 1997IBM

    Deep Blue Defeats Kasparov

    IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov, becoming the first computer to beat a reigning world champion in a full match and establishing IBM's brand in artificial intelligence.

16. 2009Boeing

    Boeing 787 Dreamliner First Flight

    The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the first commercial aircraft built primarily from carbon-fiber composite materials, makes its first flight on December 15, 2009 more than two years behind its original 2007 schedule following extensive supply chain difficulties with…

17. 2019Boeing

    737 MAX Grounded Worldwide Following Two Fatal Crashes

    After the Lion Air Flight 610 crash in October 2018 and the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash in March 2019, which killed 346 people, regulators ground the 737 MAX worldwide.

18. 2019IBM

    Red Hat Acquisition Closes

    IBM completed the $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat, the largest software acquisition in history at the time. The deal anchored IBM's hybrid cloud strategy and provided the OpenShift platform as the foundation for enterprise Kubernetes.

19. 2021IBM

    Kyndryl Spinoff

    IBM spun off its managed infrastructure services business as Kyndryl Holdings, removing approximately $19 billion in low-margin revenue to focus the remaining company on higher-margin software and consulting.

20. 2022Boeing

    Boeing Relocates Corporate Headquarters to Arlington, Virginia

    Boeing formally moves its corporate headquarters from Chicago, Illinois, to Arlington, Virginia, placing its senior executive team adjacent to the Pentagon and within close proximity to Congress and the regulatory agencies that govern both its defense and comm…

21. 2023IBM

    Watsonx Platform Launch

    IBM launched watsonx, its enterprise AI and data platform combining foundation models (Granite), data management (watsonx.data), and AI governance (watsonx.governance). The platform represents IBM's AI strategy for the generative AI era.

22. 2024Boeing

    Door-Plug Blowout, Machinists Strike, and Leadership Transition

    Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 experiences a door-plug blowout at 16,000 feet on January 5, triggering a FAA production cap on 737 MAX and a congressional investigation into Boeing's quality management.

23. 2025Boeing

    F-47 Win, Strike in St. Louis, Spirit Buyback and a Return to Profit

    The Air Force selects Boeing's F-47 as its sixth-generation fighter in March. Boeing sells Jeppesen and other digital units to Thoma Bravo for $10.55 billion, the FAA raises the 737 cap to 42 a month in October, a 102-day strike at St.

24. 2026Boeing

    737-7 Certified, F/A-XX Win and a 737-10 Setback

    Backlog reaches a record $715 billion at June 30. The FAA certifies the 737-7 on August 3, then on September 28 holds 737-10 certification over a flight-management software issue. On September 29 the Navy selects Boeing to build the F/A-XX fighter.

25. 2026IBM

    Confluent Acquisition Closes

    IBM completed its roughly $11 billion acquisition of Confluent, adding real-time data streaming used by more than 6,500 enterprises to its AI and hybrid cloud software.

Acquisitions

Questions about Boeing vs IBM