Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), a big company that advises shareholders, says Boeing investors should say “no” to CEO David Calhoun getting $32.8 million for his work at the annual meeting on May 17.
They’re saying this because Boeing has had a tough time, especially in January when one of its planes had a problem with a door while flying. Even though Calhoun didn’t get a yearly cash bonus in 2023, his pay went up by 45% compared to last year.
This big raise was mostly because he got a lot more money in long-term bonuses for the third year in a row. ISS thinks the reasons the company gave for giving Calhoun more money aren’t very good, especially since his pay has gone up a lot since he became CEO in 2020.
What ISS Is Saying
ISS is worried about how Calhoun’s pay is set up, especially a big bunch of company shares he’s supposed to get over a short time.
These shares were supposed to match some he bought in late 2022. But ISS says this, combined with the big increase in his long-term bonus, might make investors wonder.
Also, ISS noticed that Calhoun uses private jets a lot, which cost $514,285. They say this is way more than most other CEOs of big companies pay for private flights.
Boeing’s Money Troubles
Boeing’s been having money problems too. Their share price was $179.79 on Friday, which is 29% less than at the start of the year.
In January, a Boeing 737 Max plane had to make an emergency landing because of a problem with a door while flying for Alaska Airlines.
After that, the Federal Aviation Administration stopped some 737 Max planes from flying for a while. In the first three months of this year, Boeing lost almost $4 billion, and they had to pay $443 million because of the problem with the Alaska Airlines flight.
What the Board and Leaders Think
Even though ISS says Calhoun shouldn’t get so much money, they’re still saying investors should vote to keep him and other board members, like David Joyce, who’s in charge of safety for aerospace stuff.
ISS agrees Boeing has a lot of work to do to make airlines, passengers, and regulators trust them again, but they think keeping Joyce is okay, but just barely.
