In a contentious annual general meeting, Boeing shareholders approved a historic pay package of nearly $33 million for outgoing CEO Dave Calhoun, marking a 45% increase from the $22.6 million he received in 2022. This package, the largest ever granted to a Boeing CEO, includes a substantial stock bonus in addition to his base salary of over a million dollars.

Calhoun, who has been at the helm of Boeing since 2020, announced in March that he would step down by the end of the year. The recent shareholder vote was to approve his 2023 compensation. Notably, Calhoun opted to forgo an additional $2.8 million annual incentive bonus, a decision he made following the Alaska Airlines incident earlier this year.

Upon retirement, Calhoun is set to receive a further $45 million in stock awards and options that will vest over time.

The approval of this lucrative pay package comes at a turbulent time for Boeing, which is under intense scrutiny following several safety incidents, including a mid-air fuselage blowout in January that triggered multiple investigations and an executive reshuffle. The company has been facing significant financial difficulties since the fatal crashes of its 737 Max aircraft in late 2018 and early 2019, which led to a 20-month grounding of the model. The subsequent pandemic severely impacted air travel, exacerbating Boeing's financial woes.

Steve Mollenkopf, Boeing's new chairman, defended the compensation package, emphasizing that it is designed to align leadership pay with long-term business performance. "It’s really driven by meeting our commitments to the highest safety and quality standards," Mollenkopf stated.

Since the grounding of the 737 Max in 2019, Boeing has reported adjusted losses exceeding $31 billion, with further losses anticipated. Despite these financial setbacks, Mollenkopf expressed confidence in the current compensation structure, highlighting the progress made in restoring Boeing's operational and financial stability, while acknowledging that certain performance criteria have yet to be met.

In response to the Alaska Airlines incident, Boeing's compensation committee has implemented significant changes to the 2024 compensation plan, placing greater emphasis on operational metrics such as safety and quality.

Boeing's stock (BA) was down 0.1% in afternoon trading following the announcement.