A trade union almost took over Boeing in November 2003 as the aerospace giant fended off a take-over bid from the Machinists backed by private investors, a new book chronicling the rivalry between the world’s two largest aircraft manufacturers is claiming.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Boeing's largest union, teamed up with the Texas Pacific Group private equity fund headed by Continental Airlines board member and Ryanair chairman David Bonderman to
launch a bid take-over bid for then crisis-plagued Boeing. The new title, Boeing versus Airbus: The Inside Story of the Greatest Competition in International Business, by former New Yorker journalist John Newhouse, claims the Machinists' leader Tom Buffenbarger met with the then Boeing chief executive Phil Condit to propose the buy-out.
Boeing confirmed in a report to local newspaper The Seattle Times that such a meeting took place, but adds that the offer was never considered serious. Bonderman is reported to have offered Condit a $1 billion cheque as a signal of his intent. The cheque was declined.
Central to the machinists' bid was the return of Boeing Commercial Airplanes central command to Seattle from Chicago, with defence contracts spun off into a separate business. The takeover bid also saw a demerger from troubled McDonnell Douglas subsidiary, closing the Long Beach 717 production line. Buffenbarger was concerned about the increase in outsourcing and decline of commercial aircraft sales, all affecting labour in the Puget Sound and elsewhere in the USA.
Condit resigned soon after the meeting amid a defence procurement scandal and reportedly told his successor Harry Stonecipher of the offer. Stonecipher was left to break the news of the deal's rejection to Buffenbarger in a breakfast meeting.
The Seattle Times says it conducted interviews on the meeting two years ago, but only broke its exclusivity clauses today due to the book's revelations. The book does not name Buffenbarger or Texas Pacific.
Newhouse's book claims the Machinist-Texas Pacific bid to break the company up into separate commercial and defence aerospace companies had backing from leading New York banks.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Boeing's largest union, teamed up with the Texas Pacific Group private equity fund headed by Continental Airlines board member and Ryanair chairman David Bonderman to
launch a bid take-over bid for then crisis-plagued Boeing. The new title, Boeing versus Airbus: The Inside Story of the Greatest Competition in International Business, by former New Yorker journalist John Newhouse, claims the Machinists' leader Tom Buffenbarger met with the then Boeing chief executive Phil Condit to propose the buy-out. Boeing confirmed in a report to local newspaper The Seattle Times that such a meeting took place, but adds that the offer was never considered serious. Bonderman is reported to have offered Condit a $1 billion cheque as a signal of his intent. The cheque was declined.
Central to the machinists' bid was the return of Boeing Commercial Airplanes central command to Seattle from Chicago, with defence contracts spun off into a separate business. The takeover bid also saw a demerger from troubled McDonnell Douglas subsidiary, closing the Long Beach 717 production line. Buffenbarger was concerned about the increase in outsourcing and decline of commercial aircraft sales, all affecting labour in the Puget Sound and elsewhere in the USA.
Condit resigned soon after the meeting amid a defence procurement scandal and reportedly told his successor Harry Stonecipher of the offer. Stonecipher was left to break the news of the deal's rejection to Buffenbarger in a breakfast meeting.
The Seattle Times says it conducted interviews on the meeting two years ago, but only broke its exclusivity clauses today due to the book's revelations. The book does not name Buffenbarger or Texas Pacific.
Newhouse's book claims the Machinist-Texas Pacific bid to break the company up into separate commercial and defence aerospace companies had backing from leading New York banks.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
