Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg dismissed as 737 Max woes continue
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg resigned effective immediately, the company announced Monday morning. Muilenburg, who up until a few months ago was also chairman of the aircraft manufacturing company, is leaving Boeing's board as well.
The decision came Sunday night after a call with the Boeing board where Muilenburg was asked to resign, CBS News' Kris Van Cleave reports.
David Calhoun, Boeing's current chairman, is taking over as chief executive. Calhoun is currently the head of private equity operations at money management giant Blackstone. A former General Electric executive who ran that company's jet engines division, he is also the lead director of the board of the construction equipment maker Caterpillar.
Boeing's stock rose on the news of the executive shuffle, trading 2.5% higher Monday morning at around $336.
Calhoun will take over as CEO in mid-January after he wraps up non-Boeing related business, Van Cleave reports. Calhoun had expressed interest in the CEO job in the past, according to insiders.
The ouster comes after Muilenburg failed to lead the company through a swift repair and return to service of the 737 Max, which was grounded worldwide in March after two crashes of the jet killed 346 people.
Boeing has been sharply criticized by U.S. regulators and members of Congress in the months since the 737 Max groundings for providing incomplete information and paperwork, as well as pressuring agencies to speed up the approval process.
Muilenburg, a lifelong Boeing employee who started at the company as an intern, has steadfastly denied he was being pressured to resign despite calls to do so from members of Congress and victims' families. Mounting pressure from Wall Street has weighed on him also: Boeing has lost some $60 billion in stock market value since the second Max crash in March.
On Monday, though, the board in a statement said "a change in leadership was necessary to restore confidence" in the company as it works to repair relationships with regulators and stakeholders.
Calhoun says he strongly believes in the future of Boeing and the 737 Max.
Max production on hold
The leadership change follows Boeing's announcement last week that it would halt Max production in January.
Then United Airlines said it would pull the Boeing 737 Max from its flight schedule until June. The same day, Spirit AeroSystems, which makes fuselages, said it would end deliveries intended for the Max in January, and Boeing's new Starliner capsule went off course on a planned trip to the International Space Station.
Boeing board member Lawrence Kellner, the former CEO of Continental Airlines, will become non-executive chairman of the board.
"On behalf of the entire board of directors, I am pleased that Dave has agreed to lead Boeing at this critical juncture," Mr. Kellner said of Calhoun in a prepared statement. "Dave has deep industry experience and a proven track record of strong leadership, and he recognizes the challenges we must confront. The board and I look forward to working with him and the rest of the Boeing team to ensure that today marks a new way forward for our company."
CBS News' Kris Van Cleave and the Associated Press contributed reporting.
