Boeing chairman Phil Condit has warned that the giant may be potentially vulnerable to a take-over as a result of its low share price, the Seattle Times reports.
Quoting managerial sources, the newspaper says that Condit shared his concerns with senior colleagues at an annual meeting early last month.
Despite its huge size, even Boeing has no built-in immunity to a take-over, and the company is now theoretically open to attack because the value of its assets - including plant, equipment and aircraft orders - now outstrips its market value.
Boeing's stock price has tumbled by one-third since its merger with McDonnell Douglas and, while its market value stood at $35.6 billion on 10 February, Boeing's valuation of its own assets at the end of last year was $36.67 billion.
Condit is not thought to have cited a specific threat in his recent warning, although Boeing has been subject to take-over speculation in the past - with a corporate raider targeting the company in 1987 and General Electric touted as a potential buyer in the mid-1990s. GE's group sales figure for 1998 was more than $100 billion, almost double Boeing's turnover.
Source: Flight International
