When it comes to losing money, Boeing is an overperformer — of historic proportion. On Thursday, the beleaguered plane maker pre-announced a net loss of $5.46 per share for the fourth quarter of 2024, which pencils out to about $3.8 billion. That’s a stunning $11.8 billion loss for the year, the second largest in Boeing history.
The lousy news is partly due to the disruption of a seven-week strike by Boeing’s machinists that halted production of the company’s bestselling plane, the 737 Max. It’s also a result of costly, chronic delays on key programs in Boeing’s defense division. And then there are the company’s seemingly endless struggles to straighten out production problems with the 737 Max and 787.
Boeing’s financial losing streak now stretches six years, starting with the grounding of the 737 Max in 2019 following two deadly crashes. Its total losses since that time: a staggering $35.7 billion.
Fourth-quarter earnings season isn’t done yet, but Boeing’s dismal 2024 results are almost certain to bolster the company’s lead as the biggest loser in the S&P 500 index since 2019, according to data from FactSet. Uber, which was running a close second to Boeing through 2023, is expected to report a profit for 2024, while third-place Carnival posted net income of $1.9 billion for 2024, reducing its total losses over the past six years to $21 billion.
Looking back over the past quarter century, Boeing ranks sixth among the titans of red ink on the S&P 500. The ignominious No. 1: American International Group. Adjusting for inflation to 2024 dollars to compare apples to apples, the insurer lost an eye-popping $162 billion in 2008 and 2009, as its balance sheet imploded under heavy exposure to the collapse of the housing market amid the Great Recession. That’s over four times Boeing’s total inflation-adjusted loss so far of $39.4 billion. In second place is General Motors, which hemorrhaged an eye-watering $130 billion from 2005 through 2008 in 2024 dollars. It filed for bankruptcy the next year, reorganizing with $33 billion in financing from the U.S. and Canadian governments.
Where Boeing does rank No. 1: It’s lost the most money among the select group of 27 S&P 500 members that have losing streaks of at least six consecutive years since 1999. In distant second place is the former parent company of the Texas electricity supplier TXU, which lost an inflation-adjusted $28.8 billion from 2010 through 2015, driving it into bankruptcy.
But Boeing is far down the leaderboard of the longest streaks of red ink in the S&P 500. The industrial parts and repair company DEX lost money for 18 years in a row before turning profitable in 2019. SBA Communications and LiveNation are tied for second with 17-year runs of red ink that are thankfully over.
Despite Boeing’s dismal run, institutional investors have been willing to shore up the company’s finances thanks to the company’s fat order book of 5,595 planes, which should convert into billions in revenue if new CEO Kelly Ortberg can get its production lines humming smoothly again. The company raised $24 billion late last year through a sale of stock and convertible debt.
But don’t bet on Boeing’s losing streak ending in 2025. CFO Brian West told analysts on the company’s third-quarter conference call he expected the company to record negative cash flow for the full year.
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