Trump Weighs Limiting Defense Contractors’ Shareholder Payouts, CEO Compensation

Major defense contractors like Boeing and Raytheon depend on government contracts for at least half the dollars they take in – and times have been ‘good’ particularly in the last several years of geopolitical hotspots and raging wars from Ukraine to Gaza.

Contractor CEOs have as expected really been raking it in as well, though some government accountability watchdogs have long complained that huge CEO compensation, also through ample bonuses, does nothing to advance the defense of the United States.

But alas, it remains that ultimately it’s the taxpayers subsidizing these more-than-ample paychecks. This trend jumped significantly starting in 2022 into 2023 – which marked the first year of the Russia-Ukraine war, and Washington’s policy of arming Kiev to the teeth.

One industry watchdog had this to say from that year: “The United States spent more last year on defense than the next 10 nations combined. A deal just brokered by the White House and House Republicans increases that amount even further — to $886 billion. Defense contractors will pocket about half of that.”

“Just eight years ago, the national defense community made do with over $300 billion less. But making do with “less” doesn’t come easy to corporate titans like Dave Calhoun, the CEO at Boeing, the nation’s second-largest defense contractor,” the report added.

According to a Tuesday report from Punchbowl News, the White House is drafting an executive order that would place restrictions on stock repurchases, dividend payments, and executive pay at defense contracting firms.

Among the leading firms are Lockheed Martin, RTX (Raytheon), Boeing, L3 Harris Technologies, as well as the familiar names Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics.

The proposed order would apply to some of these largest companies which provide military equipment to the Pentagon, the report said, citing multiple sources.

“The executive order is the latest effort by the Trump administration to challenge the generational dominance of the defense prime contractors, the biggest beneficiaries of nearly $1 trillion in annual defense spending,” Punchbowl writes. “But some worry that such an executive order could have a chilling effect on investments in the broader defense industrial base.”

An unnamed industry official was quoted as saying, “The fear is the investors are going to leave the industry, the value of the companies is going to go down, and it’s going to be harder for them to get capital in the future” – and so “It’s not clear how they do this.” However, so far the Trump admin has only said this is “speculation” when asked if an executive order is incoming.

The material basis for why the EU is dead set on killing a Ukraine peace deal. pic.twitter.com/t6IoKkyDmB

— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) December 16, 2025

Punchbowl adds: “The push comes as the Trump administration and the Pentagon in particular have put public pressure on longstanding defense primes. DOD officials have also prompted those companies to invest more of their own internal dollars into research and development work before receiving money from the government.”

Smaller new start-ups related to defense tech have meanwhile aimed to disrupt how business with the Pentagon is typically done, vowing to be more nimble, invest their own funs up front in research and development, and to do away with “cost-plus” contracts.