A Boeing Space Exit Would Be a Win-Win-Win
The planemaker, NASA and investors would all benefit from a sale or spinoff of its spacecraft business.
A reinvigorated Boeing space business is needed, just not as part of Boeing.
Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
A true win-win-win situation doesn’t come along often. One could be brewing with a Boeing Co. decision to look at a potential sale — or perhaps more realistically a spinoff — of its space business. The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Boeing is considering a sale of the business, though a deal is not guaranteed. Bloomberg News reported that the company is weighing options for its Starliner space capsule program.
Boeing should exit the entire business. The company would win because it would cleave off an operation that has become a drag during a critical time when the planemaker must concentrate on healing its commercial aircraft business; it can’t afford more headwinds or distractions. NASA would be a winner after it has lost some confidence in Boeing after several stumbles with the Starliner. Investors would win if Boeing were to raise cash by selling the unit or from ownership in the spinoff of an established space operation in an era when the commercial space market is in its infancy.