Boeing’s deadly and fiscally disastrous year ends with an ousted CEO and halted stock

The Boeing Company ended a deadly and fiscally disastrous year with a reroute of its leadership. The aerospace manufacturer released a statement this morning saying that CEO Dennis Muilenburg has resigned and that David Calhoun, who is the current chairman, will take over as CEO and president on January 13, 2020.

The board pushed through the change two days before Christmas “to restore confidence in the Company moving forward as it works to repair relationships with regulators, customers, and all other stakeholders.” The new Boeing will operate “with a renewed commitment to full transparency, including effective and proactive communication with the FAA, other global regulators and its customers.”

And so ends Muilenburg’s four-and-a-half-year reign as chief executive, the last 14 months of which included two crashes of the 737 Max, which killed over 300 passengers and crew, and the worldwide grounding of the plane. Last week, Boeing announced that it would halt production on the 737 Max, after the FAA said that it would not be ungrounding the plane soon.

Numerous countries and airlines around the world continue to keep the plane grounded, leaving over 700 of the $75 million planes parked at Boeing or airline facilities. Quartz reported in October that the debacle has cost Boeing over $9.2 billion.

Some media outlets reported that shares of Boeing were temporarily halted premarket pending the news. The stock was up more than 2% in early-morning trading.

This story is developing . . .