A lot of long time employees are still resentful of what happened years ago and I completely understand why. The McDonnells asked the Douglas commercial division to estimate the cost to have a complete line of aircraft to match Boeing and Airbus. Boeing bought the McDonnell Douglas for $14 billion. It was the bean counters who ran McDonnell Douglas into the dirt and the same thing is happening to Boeing. As several others have put it, McDonnell Douglas acquired Boeing with Boeing’s money. Boeing will give McDonnell Douglas shareholders 0.65 Boeing shares for each McDonnell Douglas share. Shares of both enjoyed a slight bump. Actually the McDonnell family is the largest holder of Boeing stock, so the may have acquired Boeing. But, as Richard Aboulafia, a noted industry analyst with the Teal Group, told me, “McDonnell Douglas in effect acquired Boeing with Boeing’s money.” Even that sort of misstep could have been overcome, but for …

That is equal to $62.89 per share — a huge premium to McDonnell's closing price of $52 Technically, Boeing bought McDonnell Douglas. Boeing was already making money hand over fist, but McDonnell Douglas put their bean counters in control and just ruined the company.