Honestly, Boeing makes the case for returning certain companies to elite control. Mullenberg, an engineer, burned down Boeing for tens of millions today. A family that controls it wouldn’t rationally do that.
Good point but Mullenberg was only CEO from 2015 to 2020. The MAX first flew in 2016. Before that was James McNerney a literal Jack Welch-ian MBA who actually oversaw the development of the 737 MAX, the divestment of Spirit, and was Boeing’s first CEO without aerospace experience.
Just skimming the wikis for Boeing, the 737 MAX, and the A320neo it looks like Boeing’s downfall should largely be attributed to McNerney. Mullenberg is guilty of shipping a doomed product and botching the response to the subsequent crashes.
The worst part is the 737 MAX development went way over-budget.
The idiots cut corners and didn't even save money!
It is genuinely important for big corporations to have owners with a very long investment horizon who are involved in corporate management. People who are planning for their great-grandchildren are essentially trying their best to set up a company that can last forever.
They thought re-engining the 737 would cost 2bn and a new plane would cost 10bn for a savings of 8bn. The actual development cost for the MAX was 4bn so their estimates were off by a factor of two. Naively the MAX saved Boeing 16bn (20bn - 4bn) in development costs. They saved “double” (by failing upwards) on development and it only cost them the future of the company.
