A Boeing employee won a Powerball lottery jackpot for $754.6 million. She bought the ticket when she saw the jackpot had reached 747 million because, 747, and it was the week Boeing had just delivered its last 747.

[A] Boeing employee has been identified as the winner of the record-breaking Powerball jackpot that was drawn on Feb. 6.

The woman has worked as a supply chain analyst for Boeing for nearly 36 years. It was because of this that she decided to even buy a lottery ticket.

She was in the Auburn Fred Meyer with her daughter on Feb. 5 to get groceries when she saw a sign on the Lottery vending machine showing the estimated jackpot at $747 million. She also realized that Boeing had just that week delivered its last 747 jumbo jet.

After 53 years in production, the final commercial Boeing 747 was delivered to cargo carrier Atlas Air last month. The plane was originally developed with prodding and an order from Pan Am. Development was a bet the company event and came close to bankrupting the air frame manufacturer. However it wound up successful, and ultimately Boeing delivered nearly 1600 aircraft.

Take a look at the flight path of the last Boeing 747 to be built. On its way from the Boeing factory to KCVG, base for Atlas Air (Callsign Giant), the owner. They drew a crown in the sky, in honor of “The Queen of the Skies“ pic.twitter.com/sWJ7qhhtGR

— LMBertke (@spoodyb) February 1, 2023

Now the 36 year veteran of Boeing, a supply chain analyst who probably earns less than $100,000, is a wealthy woman. Hopefully she didn’t take the annuity that approximates a lifetime payout equal to the advertised jackpot but instead the smaller lump sum, takes the tax hit, and makes classic low cost broad-based investments.

The funny thing is that while a lump sum payout from the win wouldn’t quite cover the over $400 million list price on a 747, it would be more than enough to buy one at the prices Boeing typically sold them for.

(HT: H.M.)