Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg Earned $9.4 Million in 2025
Synopsis
Kelly Ortberg, Boeing’s chief executive officer’s paycheck was $9.4 million in 2025. He received an additional $17.5 million in new stock grants, which will be paid out over three years. His salary is still…
Kelly Ortberg, Boeing’s chief executive officer’s paycheck was $9.4 million in 2025. He received an additional $17.5 million in new stock grants, which will be paid out over three years. His salary is still a fraction of the $32.8 million paid to his predecessor, Dave Calhoun, in 2023.
Key Insights
- Kelly Ortberg, Boeing CEO got paid $4.9M in 2025.
- He also received $17.5 million worth of new stock that will vest over the next three years.
- His predecessor Dave Calhoun took home $32.8 million last year, more by far as Boeing’s troubles worsened.
- Boeing still remains unprofitable and still has not fully recovered from a series of safety and production failures.
Boeing’s C.E.O. Was Paid $9.4 Million Last Year
Boeing chief executive Kelly Ortberg was paid $9.4 millionin 2025. The company disclosed this in a document filed with regulators on Friday. Ortberg joined Boeing in August 2024, at one of the most difficult times in the company’s recent past. He was called in to try to clean things up after years of safety troubles, production failures, strikes and massive financial losses had mounted under his predecessor.
The $9.4 million is the amount Ortberg actually paid himself last year. It does not even account for $17.5 million in fresh stock grants that will pay out only over the next three years if he remains at the company and meets specified metrics.
What Constituted His $9.4 Million Compensation
The money was broken down in a few ways. Ortberg’s base pay for 2025 was $1.5 million. On top of that, he earned $3.9 million in incentive pay the bonus-type compensation linked to how well the company did. He also received $3.9 million from stock units that had been granted in previous years and vested in the last year, meaning they paid out. The other $650,000 came from other benefits, including contributions toward his retirement and use of Boeing’s company jets.
This is a very typical construction for a large company CEO. Much of the compensation is so-called equity, tied to stock and performance targets rather than a flat salary. The base salary of $1.5 million is fairly small by the standards of big American corporations. The big money is the stock that gets paid out over time.
The $17.5 Million in Future Stock on Top of That
Separate from what Ortberg actually received in 2025, Boeing also granted him $17.5 million worth of new stock awards during the year. There is no immediate payout with this stock. It will vest over three years, so he would receive it in chunks over time, assuming he remains at Boeing and the company meets its targets.
The goal is to tie a substantial portion of the CEO’s compensation to what happens to the company over a longer period than one year. For Boeing, which is undergoing a multi-year recovery, it also serves as a means of keeping Ortberg in the position long enough to suggest he will actually stick around long enough to deliver the turnaround. The catch is that if he leaves early, he forfeits some of that stock.
How This Compares to What His Predecessor Got Paid
When you stack Ortberg’s $9.4 million up beside the last CEO, it seems paltry. Dave Calhoun, who guided Boeing through its worst years and stepped down in August 2024, received $32.8 million last year alone. That was during a year when Boeing was already in deep trouble, fighting off safety investigations, losing billions and seeing its reputation take hit after hit. Calhoun also left with about $20.7 million in equity that will continue to deliver over the coming decade.
Ortberg’s compensation had been lower from the beginning. When he was hired, Boeing’s board had taken care to construct a pay package that was less than Calhoun’s in an intentional effort to avoid any public backlash over executive pay at a company that is seeking understanding from workers and suppliers while it embarks on a long, painful recovery.
FAQs
1.What was Kelly Ortberg’s total compensation for 2025?
He was given $9.4 million in cash and $17.5 million in stock that will be paid out over three years.
2. What is Kelly Ortberg base salary?
$1.5 million a year.
3. How does his compensation stack up against the previous CEO's?
Calhoun earned $32.8 million in 2023,over three times what Ortberg made last year.
4. Why is so much of his compensation in the form of stock?
It connects his compensation to Boeing’s performance over the long term and holds him at the company during the recovery.
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