Nikki Haley ditches Boeing board after company’s bailout beg
The former United States ambassador to the United Nations said she didn’t agree with the plane-maker’s direction.
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley resigned from Boeing’s board last week, saying she disagrees with the plane-maker’s decision to request a $60 billion bailout for the aerospace manufacturing industry.
“Ambassador Haley informed the company that, as a matter of philosophical principle, she does not believe that the company should seek support from the federal government and therefore decided to resign from the board,” the Securities and Exchange filing which documented her leave read.
Citing that she believes it is not the government’s role to financially assist some industries and not others, Haley said Boeing was one of many businesses suffering, therefore she could not support the company’s decision to lean on “a stimulus or bailout that prioritizes our company over others and relies on taxpayers to guarantee our financial position.”
Haley, who is seen as a potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate, might be protecting herself against future accusations that she supported a taxpayer-funded bailout of a private company.
“As we encounter the COVID-19 crisis, Boeing, along with many other companies, face another major set of challenges,” Haley wrote. “I want to be part of helping the company as it pushes through it. However, the board and executive team are going in a direction I cannot support.”
Still, she said she’d greatly appreciated her year at Boeing and that leaders shouldn’t hesitate to reach out for her help.
Bailouts are one of many economic measures the U.S. is weighing in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has penetrated 176 countries and regions; there are almost 587,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and over 27,000 deaths as of March 27, according to Johns Hopkins’ Center for Systems Science and Engineering live tracker. In the U.S., there have been close to 98,000 recognized cases across all states and more than 1,500 deaths.
The U.S. became the country with the most overall diagnoses and active cases in the world on March 26, surpassing China and Italy.
President Donald Trump said he would support a Boeing bailout in particular, given the company’s painful recovery from two fatal crashes involving their 737 MAX planes last year. Boeing burned through a $13.8 billion loan meant to aid them in that rebound this month, as the aerospace industry has been hit hard with countries and states enforcing lockdowns and advising residents stay put.
Read Haley’s resignation letter here. Read the S.E.C. filing here.
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