* Boeing ( BA ) has made two major sales since 2024 portfolio

review

* Wisk sale includes Insitu and SkyGrid for nearly 20% stake

in Archer Aviation ( ACHR )

* Deal lets Boeing ( BA ) use Wisk autonomous-flight technology in

current and future aircraft programs

By Dan Catchpole

SEATTLE, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Boeing's ( BA ) announcement

this week that it is selling Wisk Aero is less a signal of a

broader breakup than an effort to shed a struggling, non-core

air taxi business that had become a distraction from the

aerospace giant's turnaround efforts, analysts said.

Boeing ( BA ) CEO Kelly Ortberg previously said he would sell off

non-essential parts of the company and its subsidiaries to

stabilize its balance sheet and sharpen its focus on its core

businesses - commercial aerospace, defense and space. However,

since completing a portfolio review in 2024, there have only

been two major sales - digital aviation services provider

Jeppesen for $10.6 billion in 2025 and Monday's sale of Wisk,

drone maker Insitu and airspace-services provider SkyGrid for a

nearly 20% stake in Archer Aviation ( ACHR ).

While Boeing ( BA ) does not get its equity stake until the deal

closes, the Archer stake is worth just over $1 billion based on

its share price on Thursday evening.

Selling Jeppesen gave the company a desperately needed cash

infusion to help stabilize its balance sheet, while selling Wisk

for equity simply offloaded risk and a distraction, said Richard

Aboulafia, a managing director with AeroDynamic Advisory.

Developing and certifying air taxis and similar aircraft has

taken longer and cost more than their advocates had expected.

They still have to prove they are commercially viable and clear

substantial regulatory hurdles.

Wisk was costing Boeing ( BA ) money and time from management, with

no clear payoff coming, Aboulafia said.

Boeing ( BA ) shopped Wisk Aero around to other major electric

vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) developers, which passed on

the sale, according to people familiar with the discussions.

'THIS DEAL IS A WIN-WIN'

Under the deal, Boeing ( BA ) and ‌Archer ⁠will establish a

collaboration and technology-sharing agreement that lets Boeing ( BA )

use Wisk's core autonomous-flight technology in its own current

and future commercial and defense aircraft programs.

"This deal is a win-win," Brian Yutko, Boeing ( BA ) vice president,

Commercial Airplanes Product Development, said in an email to

Reuters.

Yutko was CEO of Wisk until May 2025, when he took his

current role at Boeing ( BA ).

"For Archer, it brings together complementary autonomy and

electric aviation capabilities developed over decades. For

Boeing ( BA ), the equity stake in Archer enables us to retain market

exposure with strategic upside, continue to apply these

technologies to our products, and further sharpen our focus on

our core commercial, defense and services businesses," he said.

As of Thursday, Archer's share price was up nearly 24% since

Friday, before the news of the deal came out.

While critics of the deal saw Boeing's ( BA ) equity stake as a signal

that it wanted to offload risk, Archer Aviation ( ACHR ) CEO Adam

Goldstein said on X that what "the deal structure makes clear is

that Boeing ( BA ) truly understands the long-term value of this

combination..."

Boeing's ( BA ) focus now is on increasing jetliner production, not

pruning its portfolio, Aboulafia and other industry analysts

said.