Reuters
—

Boeing announced Friday that Ted Colbert, president and CEO of its defense, space and security unit, will leave the company effective immediately.

The aircraft manufacturer said Steve Parker, the unit’s COO, will assume Colbert’s duties until a successor is named at a later date.

“I want to announce that Ted Colbert, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS), will be leaving Boeing and that I have asked Steve Parker to temporarily lead BDS, effective immediately, until a successor for Ted is named at a later date,” Boeing President and CEO Kelly Ortberg said in a statement Friday.

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

Colbert’s departure comes at a time when Boeing is trying to save money by announcing furloughs amid a strike by more than 32,000 employees.

Last quarter, Boeing’s defense, space and security division lost $913 million, compared with $527 million in the same period last year, after the first quarter posted a narrow profit. It posted an annual loss of $1.8 billion in 2023, smaller than in 2022. But both the second-quarter loss and the full-year 2023 loss were larger than the losses of the company’s struggling commercial aircraft division in the same periods.

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

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