Boeing’s head of defense unit Ted Colbert to leave

Reuters, CNN’s Chris Isidore

(Reuters) — Boeing said on Friday that Ted Colbert, president and CEO of its defense, space and security unit will be leaving the company effective immediately.

The planemaker said Steve Parker, the unit’s chief operating officer, will take over Colbert’s responsibilities until a replacement is named at a later date.

“I’d like to share that Ted Colbert, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS), will be leaving Boeing, and that l’ve asked Steve Parker to temporarily oversee BDS, effective immediately, until a replacement for Ted is named at a later date,” Kelly Ortberg, Boeing’s president and CEO, said Friday in a statement.

“I want to thank Ted for his 15 years of service at The Boeing Company, supporting our customers, our people and our communities. At this critical juncture, our priority is to restore the trust of our customers and meet the high standards they expect of us to enable their critical missions around the world. Working together we can and will improve our performance and ensure we deliver on our commitments.”

Colbert’s departure comes at a time when Boeing has been trying to save cash by announcing furloughs amid a strike by more than 32,000 of its workers.

In the most recent quarter, Boeing’s Defense, Space & Security unit lost $913 million, up from the $527 million loss in the same period a year ago, after a narrow profit in the first quarter. It posted an annual loss of $1.8 billion in 2023, down from 2022. But both the second quarter loss and the 2023 full-year loss were more than the company’s troubled commercial aircraft unit lost in the same periods.

Boeing’s shares closed down about 1% on Friday and have lost about 41% so far this year.

(Reuters reporting by Utkarsh Shetti in Bengaluru; Reuters Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

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