Boeing announces $19bn share sale amid costly strike and crisis over safety record

Boeing has announced moves to raise as much as $19bn (£14.6bn) as it tries to shore up its finances amid a costly worker strike and a crisis about the safety of its aeroplanes.

- Jasper Jolly

The US manufacturer said yesterday it would sell 90m common shares, raising about $14bn, plus another $5bn in depositary shares.

The company had last week said it was hoping to raise up to $25bn in new capital through a stock and debt offering, plus a separate $10bn through a credit facility with a consortium of lenders.

Yesterday's long-awaited stock offering will give Boeing a financial cushion as its chief executive, Kelly Ortberg, tries to deal with the steep costs of the strike by 33,000 workers, while also solving production problems that this year renewed focus on the manufacturer's safety culture and delayed its new 777X jet.

Adding to its troubles, problems with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft - which had to return to Earth last month without two astronauts who were left on the International Space Station - have dealt a blow to its space division.