Boeing is an American aerospace giant founded by William E. Boeing in Seattle in 1916, now operating as the largest U.S. exporter and the world's fourth-largest defense contractor, with 2021 sales of $62.3 billion. Today, the company is headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia—having moved from Seattle to Chicago in 2001—and is organized into three divisions: Commercial Airplanes, Defense, Space & Security, and Global Services. The modern corporation was forged by the pivotal merger with McDonnell Douglas on August 1, 1997, a deal that later sparked a notorious "clash of corporate cultures" between engineers and financiers, which analysts have linked to the 737 MAX crash crisis. Over its history, Boeing diversified beyond aircraft into helicopters (buying Vertol in 1960), space travel, and satellite services, including the 1995 Sea Launch venture and the 2000 acquisition of Hughes's satellite segment. More recently, the company weathered severe turbulence from the COVID-19 pandemic, cutting over 12,000 jobs in May 2020 and reporting a $2.4 billion loss in July of that year.