Boeing Starts Selling Off Pieces
Boeing hasn't made an annual profit since 2018 and has lost some $25 billion in the process. Last week, Boeing announced intentions to raise up to $25 billion in new stock and debt to rein in its balance sheet. The company plans to raise the cash over the next three years but isn't wasting any time.
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According to Reuters, the plane maker has wrapped up a deal to sell Digital Receiver Technology, the company's small defense subsidiary in Maryland that makes surveillance equipment for the U.S. military. According to the company's website, DRT designs and manufactures complex Software Defined Radio (SDR) systems used by the intelligence, defense and homeland security communities to gather, analyze and share signals intelligence.
Boeing is selling DRT to Thales Defense & Security, a division of Thales SA, Europe's largest defense electronics firm. The division is also based in Maryland.
The terms of the deal haven't been disclosed, so it's unknown how much of a dent it will make in the company's $25 billion goal.
On Friday, Boeing's new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, announced plans to cut some 17,000 jobs and push back the launch of a new 777 airliner. The company has spent more than $1 billion in cash and ended September with $10.3 billion in cash and securities, according to the AP. A large strain on the company has been the 33,000 striking machinists that have crippled production for more than a month. The union will vote on a new deal this Wednesday that would increase pay by 35% over four years and dole out $7,000 ratification bonuses to workers.
The layoffs extend beyond Boeing. Spirit AeroSystems, which Boeing is in the process of acquiring for some $4.7 billion, announced plans to place 700 workers on three-week furloughs starting this month. If the union can't make a deal by the end of next month, the furloughs will become layoffs.
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