Few companies singularly affect the U.S. economy more than Boeing.
The largest aerospace company in the world, Boeing boasts more than 150,000 employees and has annual sales of more than $100 billion. It's the largest segment of the Dow Jones industrial average, and on Wednesday, it reported a drop in earnings that is costing the company at least $1 billion. In the first quarter of 2019, Boeing's delivery of new planes dropped by 19 percent compared with last year.
It's never good when you have to defend your firm's handling of a crisis during a conference call with investors. But it's not just Boeing's reputation that's at stake _ U.S. leadership in world aviation is at risk, too. Last year, the United States exported $130 billion in civilian airplanes and equipment, much of it built by Boeing.
