Bill Ford is doubling down on Ford shares and amassing more control of the company
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Jim Farley, the new Ford CEO (left), and Bill Ford Jr., the Ford Executive Chairman pose with the 2021 F-150 at an event September 17, 2020 at Ford’s Michigan facility that makes the pickup.
Michael Wayland | CNBC
DETROIT – Ford MotorSlowly, Chair Bill Ford has been accumulating more shares and control of the automaker that his great-grandfather, Bill Ford, founded in 1903.
Unlike Elon MuskFord, like other CEOs, has doubled down on the company that he named over the past decade.
He holds 2.3 Million shares of Ford’s common stock, making him the largest shareholder at Ford. Additionally, the 64-year-old is the largest shareholder of Ford’s Class B shares. These share have super-voting power that has allowed Ford to maintain control. Although they hold 2% of Ford stock outstanding, the Class B shares have 40% voting power.
Bill Ford is the owner of 16.1 million Class B shares. This represents 23%. These are restricted to his immediate family. According to FactSet, this is almost four times the amount of Class B shares he had in 2012.
It’s important to keep the family tradition alive. This gives us an identity and perhaps a human face that many other businesses don’t.
Start at Satya NadellaAt MicrosoftYou can find more information here Jeff Bezos Elon MuskCEOs, founders, as well as other insiders of the company have been selling their stock at record highs. Ford’s increasing stake in Ford bucks the recent trend of CEOs, founders, and corporate insiders selling a record amount. $69 billion in stock in 2021,As looming taxes were raised and share prices rose, many took advantage of the opportunity to make profits.
Ford, who has a stake that has grown as a result of his leadership of the board, stated that he will keep his shares because he believes in the “tremendous belief” of Jim Farley and his management team to carry out Farley’s promises. Ford+ turnaround planFocusing on electric and connected cars. In 2020, Ford paid him $16 million total in compensation. This included a combination of cash, equity and benefits.
Ford purchased 412,500 Class B shares in addition to the ones he already owned. They are now being held by a family trust. This move was made just one week after Ford had acquired more than 2 million company shares by using stock options.
Ford instead of keeping $18 million that he could have earned from the option exercise, as most executives do. Instead of paying $20.5 million cash and taxes for the gain to keep the shares, Ford spent $20.5 million cash.
Ford shared his belief with CNBC, “I feel that we are well placed to deliver superior shareholder return and I for one would like to be part of it.” Ford stated that he believes there are many opportunities to increase shareholder value since scaling the Model T.
Electric Vehicles
Farley, unlike his predecessors has gained investor confidence since taking the helm. October 2020.The automaker’s shares have risen by approximately 270% in the past year, bringing its market capitalization to over $100 billion. Ford was first to announce 2020 as its fiscal year. stock has topped $20 a share.
On Wednesday, the stock was closed at $25.02 per unit. With the company’s current market value of $99.99 billion, it closes at $29.02 per share. Ford now has a greater value than any crosstown competitor General MotorsThe value of the sand is approximately $90 billion.
Farley has created Ford+, a plan to pivot the company to EVs. This includes the Mustang Mach E (all-electric Ford F-150) and the all-electric Ford F-150. The connected services are also being used to generate recurring revenues. The company expects an 8% adjusted profit margin before interest and taxes in 2023 — earlier than Many analysts anticipated.
Ford stated, “The Mach-E as well as the Lightning, their order banks simply overwhelmed us.” We’re still on the electrification road, but there’s so much more to it. Connecting to customers, that’s what electrification is all about.
Families share
Ford holds approximately 20.3million shares of restricted, common, and Class B stocks. These holdings may not include trusts and are estimated to be worth over $500 million at Thursday’s closing prices.
Henry Ford’s descendants own 71,000,000 Class B shares, which are worth $1.8 Billion. Once their Class B shares are below $60.8 million, the Ford family loses its voting power.
The dual-share system has been criticized by some as unfairly permitting the Ford family to keep control. Ford repeatedly stated that the dual-share structure allowed Ford to focus more on long-term goals and not become another “nameless, faceless corporation”.
He said, “I believe it’s very important that the family tradition continue.” It gives us an identity and perhaps a human face that many other businesses don’t.
The company’s dual-class stock structure has had many shareholder problems since its inception in 1956. The last shareholder meeting saw 36.3% support a system where every share has an equal vote. That is slightly less than the 35.3% average from 2013.
Ford feels that his stock ownership is a support for his family’s voting rights and shares. Ford stated that he cannot recall selling Ford stock shares on the open market, and if so, when. It doesn’t apply to exercising options, transferring shares into trusts, or converting common stock to Class B stock.
“I am in it for the long-term. It’s my life, and it is what I love,” he stated. I believe we have a great future ahead of us.
– CNBC’s Robert FrankContributed to the report.
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