Boeing has sold several digital businesses to investment firm Thoma Bravo, closing a deal that injects fresh cash into the company and reflects a plan by chief executive Kelly Ortberg to sharpen Boeing’s strategic focus.
The aircraft manufacturer said on 3 November it had finalised the divestitures through an all-cash $10.55 billion sale to Thoma Bravo.
Assets divested include Boeing’s aircraft management software provider AerData and flight-service information providers ForeFlight, Jeppesen and OzRunways.
Boeing had housed those businesses under its Boeing Global Services division.
“The completion of this sale strengthens Boeing’s capital structure and allows Boeing to focus on core business, including the retained digital services portfolio,” the company says.
“These essential digital capabilities harness both aircraft and fleet-specific data to provide commercial and defense customers with fleet operations, maintenance, diagnostics and repair services.”
Boeing had disclosed in April its intention to sell the assets to Thoma Bravo.
The divestiture highlights a significant strategy shift undertaken by Boeing in recent years.
Last decade, under then-CEO Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing set out to significantly expand its BGS business unit. Muilenburg viewed BGS as a prime driver of the company’s growth and planned for the division to be generating $50 billion in annual revenue by the mid-2020s.
That goal always seemed a stretch, as BGS generated $14.6 billion of revenue in 2018. The goal became untenable following the 737 Max crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic and Boeing’s quality and safety issues.
Boeing’s current CEO Kelly Ortberg implemented a strategic shift by selling the digital assets, part of a plan to pivot Boeing back to focusing on its “core businesses” of aircraft manufacturing and aftermarket support.
Ortberg also says the sale will help Boeing maintain its investment-grade credit rating.
