CEO: Ford needs big changes, maybe new CEO (NEW CEO JUST NAMED!)
09-04-06, 05:33 PM
#1
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CEO: Ford needs big changes, maybe new CEO (NEW CEO JUST NAMED!)
CEO: Ford needs big changes, maybe new CEO
Bill Ford willing to let someone else lead company, he says in magazine interview; tells employees big changes ahead.
September 4 2006: 9:31 AM EDT
FRANKFURT (Reuters) -- Ford CEO Bill Ford Jr is prepared to let someone else lead the carmaker his great-grandfather founded should the right manager be available, he said in a magazine interview.
He also told employees the company nees a new business model and is considering alliances.
The auto maker's CEO told employees that the company needs a new business model and is considering turning to outside executives and making alliances with other carmakers.
"I'm always looking to bring talent into this company. If I can find somebody - I thought Carlos (Ghosn) was an exceptionally talented executive who could help the company - I'll go get him. That is regardless of the position," Ford told Newsweek in an interview posted on the magazine's website.
Asked if that applied to his own job as well, Ford replied: "Absolutely."
Ford was referring to past efforts to lure Ghosn, who is chief executive of alliance partners Renault of France and Nissan of Japan, to work for the number two U.S. carmaker, which is struggling to handle losses in North America.
Renault and Nissan are in talks with General Motors (Charts) now about joining forces in a three-way alliance. They have set a deadline of mid-October to decide whether to proceed.
Asked why he had approached Ghosn about forming an alliance with Ford, Bill Ford said: "I talk to Carlos all the time, but I'm not going to comment on that."
Media reports have said Ford called Ghosn to discuss an alliance should the GM talks fail.
Bill Ford said his top priority was guiding Ford back to profit in North America - where high fuel prices have crimped demand for Ford's sport utility vehicles and light trucks - and not to recruit a new CEO.
"I'm not looking to replace myself. I'm looking to make sure the company is stocked with talent. But look, right now I'm focused on getting the North American operations back on track. That's where my energy and time is going. That's my passion."
He said he would always be part of the company given family ties. The Ford family has 40 percent of the voting rights.
New business model
The auto maker's CEO told employees that the company needs a new business model and is considering turning to outside executives and making alliances with other carmakers, according to a Financial Times report on Sunday citing a memo it said was sent to staff.
The FT said on its Web site that in the memo, sent to Ford employees ahead of a turnaround plan to be unveiled later this month, Bill Ford said: "The business model that sustained us for decades is no longer sufficient to sustain profitability."
On Thursday, Ford said it wanted to sell its Aston Martin luxury unit to free up funds to invest in its other brands amid a sharp downturn in sales.
Shares of Ford (Charts) closed Friday at $8.27 on the New York Stock Exchange.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/04/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes
Bill Ford willing to let someone else lead company, he says in magazine interview; tells employees big changes ahead.
September 4 2006: 9:31 AM EDT
FRANKFURT (Reuters) -- Ford CEO Bill Ford Jr is prepared to let someone else lead the carmaker his great-grandfather founded should the right manager be available, he said in a magazine interview.
He also told employees the company nees a new business model and is considering alliances.
The auto maker's CEO told employees that the company needs a new business model and is considering turning to outside executives and making alliances with other carmakers.
"I'm always looking to bring talent into this company. If I can find somebody - I thought Carlos (Ghosn) was an exceptionally talented executive who could help the company - I'll go get him. That is regardless of the position," Ford told Newsweek in an interview posted on the magazine's website.
Asked if that applied to his own job as well, Ford replied: "Absolutely."
Ford was referring to past efforts to lure Ghosn, who is chief executive of alliance partners Renault of France and Nissan of Japan, to work for the number two U.S. carmaker, which is struggling to handle losses in North America.
Renault and Nissan are in talks with General Motors (Charts) now about joining forces in a three-way alliance. They have set a deadline of mid-October to decide whether to proceed.
Asked why he had approached Ghosn about forming an alliance with Ford, Bill Ford said: "I talk to Carlos all the time, but I'm not going to comment on that."
Media reports have said Ford called Ghosn to discuss an alliance should the GM talks fail.
Bill Ford said his top priority was guiding Ford back to profit in North America - where high fuel prices have crimped demand for Ford's sport utility vehicles and light trucks - and not to recruit a new CEO.
"I'm not looking to replace myself. I'm looking to make sure the company is stocked with talent. But look, right now I'm focused on getting the North American operations back on track. That's where my energy and time is going. That's my passion."
He said he would always be part of the company given family ties. The Ford family has 40 percent of the voting rights.
New business model
The auto maker's CEO told employees that the company needs a new business model and is considering turning to outside executives and making alliances with other carmakers, according to a Financial Times report on Sunday citing a memo it said was sent to staff.
The FT said on its Web site that in the memo, sent to Ford employees ahead of a turnaround plan to be unveiled later this month, Bill Ford said: "The business model that sustained us for decades is no longer sufficient to sustain profitability."
On Thursday, Ford said it wanted to sell its Aston Martin luxury unit to free up funds to invest in its other brands amid a sharp downturn in sales.
Shares of Ford (Charts) closed Friday at $8.27 on the New York Stock Exchange.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/04/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes
09-04-06, 06:17 PM
#2
Super Moderator
Not just the CEO, but some of the rest of the upper management. A new CEO, no matter how great, can get involved in logjams with upper management. He or she really needs people who can get the wheels moving quickly.
09-05-06, 01:55 PM
#4
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Below is Ford's press release.
FORD NAMES BOEING'S ALAN MULALLY PRESIDENT & CEO; BILL FORD IS EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN
Featured Stories
Press Releases
BIOGRAPHY: ALAN MULALLY
Mulally led turnaround of the commercial airplane division of The Boeing Company. He has a record of success in customer satisfaction, manufacturing, product development, labor relations and supplier management.
Bill Ford, as executive chairman, will concentrate efforts on strategic repositioning of Ford Motor Company.
DEARBORN, Mich., Sept. 5 – Ford Motor Company announced today that it has elected Alan Mulally as president and chief executive officer. He has also been elected to the Board of Directors.
Bill Ford will continue his duties as executive chairman of the company.
"One of the three strategic priorities that I've focused on this year is company leadership. While I knew that we were fortunate to have outstanding leaders driving our operations around the world, I also determined that our turnaround effort required the additional skills of an executive who has led a major manufacturing enterprise through such challenges before," Bill Ford wrote in an email to Ford employees today.
"That's why I'm very pleased to announce that Alan Mulally, who turned around the Commercial Airplanes division of The Boeing Company, will become our president and CEO, effective immediately. Alan has deep experience in customer satisfaction, manufacturing, supplier relations and labor relations, all of which have applications to the challenges of Ford. He also has the personality and team-building skills that will help guide our Company in the right direction."
Bill Ford, who said he would remain "extremely active" in the business, praised Mulally as "an outstanding leader and a man of great character." He noted that Mulally had applied many of the lessons from Ford's success in developing the Taurus to Boeing's creation of the revolutionary Boeing 777 airliner. That experience, chronicled in the book, "Working Together," by James P. Lewis, tells how the leadership principles Mulally learned from Ford and developed at Boeing may be applied to other businesses.
"Clearly, the challenges Boeing faced in recent years have many parallels to our own," Bill Ford said.
Mulally, 61, has spent 37 years at The Boeing Company, most recently as executive vice president. In addition, he has also been president and chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes since 2001. In that position he was responsible for all of the company's commercial airplane programs and related services, which in 2005 generated record orders for new business and sales of more than $22.6 billion. Mulally was named president of Commercial Airplanes in September 1998. The responsibility of chief executive officer for the business unit was added in March 2001.
"I think the opportunity to work with Bill Ford and Ford Motor Company is the only thing that could have attracted me to a job other than Boeing, where I have so many great friends and memories," Mulally said. "I'm looking forward to working closely with Bill in the ongoing turnaround of this great Company. I'm also eager to begin engagement with the leadership team. I believe strongly in teamwork and I fully expect that our efforts will be a productive collaboration."
Mulally noted that many of the challenges he encountered in commercial airplane manufacturing are analogous to the issues at Ford.
"Just as I thought it was appropriate to apply lessons learned from Ford to Boeing, I believe the reverse is true as well," Mulally said. "I also recognize that Ford has a strong foundation upon which we can build. The Company's long tradition of innovation, developing new markets, and creating iconic vehicles that represent customer values is a great advantage that we can leverage for our future."
Bill Ford said he expected Mulally would assist Mark Fields and the Way Forward team as they accelerate their business plan.
"After dealing with the troubles at Boeing in the post-9/11 world, Alan knows what it's like to have your back to the wall – and fight your way out with a well-conceived plan and great execution," Bill Ford said in his note to employees. "He also knows how to deal with long product cycles, changing fuel prices and difficult decisions in a turnaround."
Prior to his current position, Mulally served as president of Boeing Information, Space & Defense Systems and senior vice president of The Boeing Company. Appointed to that role in February 1997, he was responsible for Boeing’s defense, space and government business.
Beginning in 1994, he was senior vice president of Airplane Development for Boeing Commercial Airplanes Group, responsible for all airplane development activities, flight test operations, certification and government technical liaison.
Mulally serves as co-chair of the Washington Competitiveness Council, and sits on the advisory boards of NASA, the University of Washington, the University of Kansas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. He is a member of the United States National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of England’s Royal Academy of Engineering.
Mulally holds bachelor’s and master’s of science degrees in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Kansas, and earned a master’s in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a 1982 Alfred P. Sloan fellow.
A member of the board since 1988, Bill Ford, 49, was elected chairman in September 1998, and took office on Jan. 1, 1999. He also serves as chairman of the board's Environmental and Public Policy Committee and as a member of the Finance Committee. He was named Chief Executive Officer on Oct. 30, 2001.
Bill Ford, who led the Company to three straight years of profitability through 2005, told employees in his email that he looked forward to an excellent working partnership with Mulally on global strategic issues.
"Let me assure you: I'm not going anywhere," Bill Ford wrote to Ford workers. "As executive chairman, I intend to remain extremely active in the direction of this Company. I'll be here every day and I will not rest until a prosperous future for this Company is secured."
FORD NAMES BOEING'S ALAN MULALLY PRESIDENT & CEO; BILL FORD IS EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN
Featured Stories
Press Releases
BIOGRAPHY: ALAN MULALLY
Mulally led turnaround of the commercial airplane division of The Boeing Company. He has a record of success in customer satisfaction, manufacturing, product development, labor relations and supplier management.
Bill Ford, as executive chairman, will concentrate efforts on strategic repositioning of Ford Motor Company.
DEARBORN, Mich., Sept. 5 – Ford Motor Company announced today that it has elected Alan Mulally as president and chief executive officer. He has also been elected to the Board of Directors.
Bill Ford will continue his duties as executive chairman of the company.
"One of the three strategic priorities that I've focused on this year is company leadership. While I knew that we were fortunate to have outstanding leaders driving our operations around the world, I also determined that our turnaround effort required the additional skills of an executive who has led a major manufacturing enterprise through such challenges before," Bill Ford wrote in an email to Ford employees today.
"That's why I'm very pleased to announce that Alan Mulally, who turned around the Commercial Airplanes division of The Boeing Company, will become our president and CEO, effective immediately. Alan has deep experience in customer satisfaction, manufacturing, supplier relations and labor relations, all of which have applications to the challenges of Ford. He also has the personality and team-building skills that will help guide our Company in the right direction."
Bill Ford, who said he would remain "extremely active" in the business, praised Mulally as "an outstanding leader and a man of great character." He noted that Mulally had applied many of the lessons from Ford's success in developing the Taurus to Boeing's creation of the revolutionary Boeing 777 airliner. That experience, chronicled in the book, "Working Together," by James P. Lewis, tells how the leadership principles Mulally learned from Ford and developed at Boeing may be applied to other businesses.
"Clearly, the challenges Boeing faced in recent years have many parallels to our own," Bill Ford said.
Mulally, 61, has spent 37 years at The Boeing Company, most recently as executive vice president. In addition, he has also been president and chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes since 2001. In that position he was responsible for all of the company's commercial airplane programs and related services, which in 2005 generated record orders for new business and sales of more than $22.6 billion. Mulally was named president of Commercial Airplanes in September 1998. The responsibility of chief executive officer for the business unit was added in March 2001.
"I think the opportunity to work with Bill Ford and Ford Motor Company is the only thing that could have attracted me to a job other than Boeing, where I have so many great friends and memories," Mulally said. "I'm looking forward to working closely with Bill in the ongoing turnaround of this great Company. I'm also eager to begin engagement with the leadership team. I believe strongly in teamwork and I fully expect that our efforts will be a productive collaboration."
Mulally noted that many of the challenges he encountered in commercial airplane manufacturing are analogous to the issues at Ford.
"Just as I thought it was appropriate to apply lessons learned from Ford to Boeing, I believe the reverse is true as well," Mulally said. "I also recognize that Ford has a strong foundation upon which we can build. The Company's long tradition of innovation, developing new markets, and creating iconic vehicles that represent customer values is a great advantage that we can leverage for our future."
Bill Ford said he expected Mulally would assist Mark Fields and the Way Forward team as they accelerate their business plan.
"After dealing with the troubles at Boeing in the post-9/11 world, Alan knows what it's like to have your back to the wall – and fight your way out with a well-conceived plan and great execution," Bill Ford said in his note to employees. "He also knows how to deal with long product cycles, changing fuel prices and difficult decisions in a turnaround."
Prior to his current position, Mulally served as president of Boeing Information, Space & Defense Systems and senior vice president of The Boeing Company. Appointed to that role in February 1997, he was responsible for Boeing’s defense, space and government business.
Beginning in 1994, he was senior vice president of Airplane Development for Boeing Commercial Airplanes Group, responsible for all airplane development activities, flight test operations, certification and government technical liaison.
Mulally serves as co-chair of the Washington Competitiveness Council, and sits on the advisory boards of NASA, the University of Washington, the University of Kansas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. He is a member of the United States National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of England’s Royal Academy of Engineering.
Mulally holds bachelor’s and master’s of science degrees in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Kansas, and earned a master’s in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a 1982 Alfred P. Sloan fellow.
A member of the board since 1988, Bill Ford, 49, was elected chairman in September 1998, and took office on Jan. 1, 1999. He also serves as chairman of the board's Environmental and Public Policy Committee and as a member of the Finance Committee. He was named Chief Executive Officer on Oct. 30, 2001.
Bill Ford, who led the Company to three straight years of profitability through 2005, told employees in his email that he looked forward to an excellent working partnership with Mulally on global strategic issues.
"Let me assure you: I'm not going anywhere," Bill Ford wrote to Ford workers. "As executive chairman, I intend to remain extremely active in the direction of this Company. I'll be here every day and I will not rest until a prosperous future for this Company is secured."
09-05-06, 06:05 PM
#7
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Although, I imagine it would be a Lincoln.Hey, maybe he learned a few things driving a Lexus.
It's funny that the new CEO is coming in with no previous desire to drive a Ford product, not even Jaguar.
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09-05-06, 06:19 PM
#8
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Dump all the unprofitable subsidiaries, trim the fat, and focus on the core products.
"The first generation creates, the second becomes wealthy, and the third loses everything."
Dump all the unprofitable subsidiaries, trim the fat, and focus on the core products.
"The first generation creates, the second becomes wealthy, and the third loses everything."
09-05-06, 11:34 PM
#9
It's a "Lexus 430" according to Forbes...
Either LS 430, SC 430, or GS 430...
http://www.forbes.com/2006/09/05/for...ml?partner=rss
Either LS 430, SC 430, or GS 430...
http://www.forbes.com/2006/09/05/for...ml?partner=rss
09-06-06, 12:51 AM
#12
Ford's troubles run too deep for a simple solution. From pensions, health care, overall benefits, quality of their vehicles, top heavy management, lack of understanding and reacting to the market, dependance on large vehicles, older tooling, poor Hyrbid R&D (they license the older Toyota technology), etc....... Good luck Ford, but for me, Ford could not go under fast enough just based on my experiences with the cars. They do well in trucks and they should really focus on that category. Their cars are just silly.
09-09-06, 06:41 PM
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Ford to pay new CEO $2M salary, $18.5M bonus
By Shawn Langlois, MarketWatch
Last Update: 4:49 PM ET Sep 8, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Ford Motor Co., in the middle of a wrenching restructuring that already has led to plant shutdowns and thousands of job cuts, said Friday that it will pay its new chief executive a $2 million base salary as well as an $18.5 million bonus.
Alan Mulally also will receive 4 million stock options priced at the grant date's current fair-market value of $8.28 along with 600,000 restricted stock units, according to the regulatory filing.
Of the $18.5 million up-front payment, $7.5 million is considered a hiring bonus while $11 million was given to offset performance and stock-option awards Mulally forfeited at Boeing Co. handed over the chief's reins to the aerospace executive, as the struggling automaker aims to quicken the pace of its massive "Way Forward" overhaul. See full story.
As Boeing's second-highest paid executive, Mulally received more than $9.9 million in cash and stock in 2005, which was twice as much as he earned in the prior year.
Rival General Motors Corp. paid Chief Executive Rick Wagoner a salary of $2.2 million in 2005, with a total payout package worth $5.48 million. That's about half his compensation from 2004. Wagoner's base salary has been the same since 2003. End of Story
Shawn Langlois is a reporter for MarketWatch, and the editor of its community message boards.
http://www.marketwatch.com/New...ottom
By Shawn Langlois, MarketWatch
Last Update: 4:49 PM ET Sep 8, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Ford Motor Co., in the middle of a wrenching restructuring that already has led to plant shutdowns and thousands of job cuts, said Friday that it will pay its new chief executive a $2 million base salary as well as an $18.5 million bonus.
Alan Mulally also will receive 4 million stock options priced at the grant date's current fair-market value of $8.28 along with 600,000 restricted stock units, according to the regulatory filing.
Of the $18.5 million up-front payment, $7.5 million is considered a hiring bonus while $11 million was given to offset performance and stock-option awards Mulally forfeited at Boeing Co. handed over the chief's reins to the aerospace executive, as the struggling automaker aims to quicken the pace of its massive "Way Forward" overhaul. See full story.
As Boeing's second-highest paid executive, Mulally received more than $9.9 million in cash and stock in 2005, which was twice as much as he earned in the prior year.
Rival General Motors Corp. paid Chief Executive Rick Wagoner a salary of $2.2 million in 2005, with a total payout package worth $5.48 million. That's about half his compensation from 2004. Wagoner's base salary has been the same since 2003. End of Story
Shawn Langlois is a reporter for MarketWatch, and the editor of its community message boards.
http://www.marketwatch.com/New...ottom
09-09-06, 06:56 PM
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Ford to pay new CEO $2M salary, $18.5M bonus
By Shawn Langlois, MarketWatch
Last Update: 4:49 PM ET Sep 8, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Ford Motor Co., in the middle of a wrenching restructuring that already has led to plant shutdowns and thousands of job cuts, said Friday that it will pay its new chief executive a $2 million base salary as well as an $18.5 million bonus.
Alan Mulally also will receive 4 million stock options priced at the grant date's current fair-market value of $8.28 along with 600,000 restricted stock units, according to the regulatory filing.
Of the $18.5 million up-front payment, $7.5 million is considered a hiring bonus while $11 million was given to offset performance and stock-option awards Mulally forfeited at Boeing Co. handed over the chief's reins to the aerospace executive, as the struggling automaker aims to quicken the pace of its massive "Way Forward" overhaul. See full story.
As Boeing's second-highest paid executive, Mulally received more than $9.9 million in cash and stock in 2005, which was twice as much as he earned in the prior year.
Rival General Motors Corp. paid Chief Executive Rick Wagoner a salary of $2.2 million in 2005, with a total payout package worth $5.48 million. That's about half his compensation from 2004. Wagoner's base salary has been the same since 2003. End of Story
Shawn Langlois is a reporter for MarketWatch, and the editor of its community message boards.
http://www.marketwatch.com/New...ottom
By Shawn Langlois, MarketWatch
Last Update: 4:49 PM ET Sep 8, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Ford Motor Co., in the middle of a wrenching restructuring that already has led to plant shutdowns and thousands of job cuts, said Friday that it will pay its new chief executive a $2 million base salary as well as an $18.5 million bonus.
Alan Mulally also will receive 4 million stock options priced at the grant date's current fair-market value of $8.28 along with 600,000 restricted stock units, according to the regulatory filing.
Of the $18.5 million up-front payment, $7.5 million is considered a hiring bonus while $11 million was given to offset performance and stock-option awards Mulally forfeited at Boeing Co. handed over the chief's reins to the aerospace executive, as the struggling automaker aims to quicken the pace of its massive "Way Forward" overhaul. See full story.
As Boeing's second-highest paid executive, Mulally received more than $9.9 million in cash and stock in 2005, which was twice as much as he earned in the prior year.
Rival General Motors Corp. paid Chief Executive Rick Wagoner a salary of $2.2 million in 2005, with a total payout package worth $5.48 million. That's about half his compensation from 2004. Wagoner's base salary has been the same since 2003. End of Story
Shawn Langlois is a reporter for MarketWatch, and the editor of its community message boards.
http://www.marketwatch.com/New...ottom
Ford isn't even profiting but can somehow pay ONE man $18,500,000.00 right off the bat??? I have no sympothy.
How many more poor workers are going to have to receive a pink slip because of this?
09-09-06, 07:06 PM
#15
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