Boeing Co plans to report a $4.9 billion accounting charge with its second-quarter results next week, a sign of the widening financial toll from the company’s beleaguered 737 Max jetliner.
The after-tax writedown, equivalent to $8.74 a share, covers potential concessions and considerations for airline customers who have been forced to cancel flights and line up replacement aircraft as the Max’s grounding enters its fifth month, Boeing said in a statement Thursday. The costs will clip $5.6 billion from revenue and pretax earnings in the quarter.
The assumptions behind the accounting charge also provided a glimpse of Boeing’s recovery plan for its best-selling jet, which crashed twice in a five-month span and engulfed the US planemaker in one of the worst crises of its century-long history.
