EVERETT — Time has run out on a long-term Boeing Co. incentive program that gives employees a stock payout based on the company’s share price.
Boeing’s stock needed to hit at least $85 per share by the close of the market Wednesday in order for the long-running plan to pay off. Boeing’s shares closed well under that price, at $62.75.
This was the seventh and final period of Boeing’s ShareValue Trust incentive program, which began 14 years ago. The company set stock price targets for specific periods over the program.
The global recession, coupled with delays in Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner program, have put the $85 stock price out of Boeing’s reach. Boeing’s stock hasn’t closed at $85 since early 2008. In the past year, Boeing’s shares have traded as high as $76 and as low as $38.92.
Boeing says its incentive program was designed to allow employees to “share in the success of their efforts to improve productivity and grow the business.”
But the company’s stock price has fluctuated based on variables outside its employees’ control. In 2008, Boeing shares took a dive in the week before the incentive program deadline. Then high oil prices hurt the company’s shares, leading an analyst to downgrade Boeing’ stock. The minimum price had to be $54 to trigger a 2008 payout. The company’s stock closed at $66.18 that June, leading to a payout of about $1,800 for Boeing employees who had been with the company for four years.
In 2006, Boeing paid out $5,231 to workers who had been with the company for the previous four years. A full payout in 2004 was $900.
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