I realize that the original Henry Ford setup Ford so his heirs could run the company, but come on, Henry III and the other one are nothing special. By now, they only share a small percentage of DNA with the original Henry. What makes them so great? Absolutely nothing. Why do we all have to suffer under them?
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Bill Ford's dismal performance as CEO suggested that the man would have been out of his depth in a parking lot puddle.
Interesting that the auto industry is at the start of a major transition from ICE to EV. What we have with this election is that no matter how much you think the company is a public company the Ford family still calls the shots. Billy had his shot in the early 2000s and it was a disaster. Our foreign competition and the US market grew over 17mn units and Ford continued to loose money. In the spring of 06 at Greenfield village the Ford family threatened to dump the preferred stock if Billy did not step down. This man was given the keys once and demonstrated he was way in over his head. We got lucky with Allan. But this makes people nervous when the family does things like this.
Ford heirs have been battling each other for control of the company since the beginning. Some of it has to do with the amount of stock certain members hold and a lot has to do with who holds sway with the family. Seems like the latest move is Alexandra and Bill pushing Henry aside to retain control of the board. Edsel II was weak and it seems like Henry takes after him. Bill's a good political player but was a disaster at running the company. I wonder if he wants Alexandra to have a shot at it?
I agree with you, but its going to be this way as long as the family has their special class of voting stock. They're always going to pick a CEO based on how much he bends to the family, and Farley masterfully worked the Ford family to get to the top.
Totally agree, how in modern times does it make any business sense to essentially run a global business based on a genetic line. That you have Bill Ford's daughter what - determining strategy based solely on the fact she's daddy's little girl.