Jerry York to be Next CEO and Chairmen of Ford

[donzuchowski]

I think that Kirk Kerkorian will get some board seats and will get the control away from the ford family. I think he will make Jerry York the new CEO and Chairmen or Kirk will make himslf Chairmen and York CEO. :reading:

 

 

ps.

who let the kirk out!!! sung to the who let the dogs out song

[Extreme4x4]

Wow............... look how gracefully those pigs fly !!!!!

[suv_guy_19]

What is with this place anymore?

[J-150]

What is with this place anymore?

 

 

 

 

too much oxycontin

[suv_guy_19]

too much oxycontin

 

I suppose thats a possibility.

[salsakingcpa]

I think that Kirk Kerkorian will get some board seats and will get the control away from the ford family. I think he will make Jerry York the new CEO and Chairmen or Kirk will make himslf Chairmen and York CEO. :reading: ps. who let the kirk out!!! sung to the who let the dogs out song

 

 

I wonder how much this spammer is getting paid; maybe $8.50 / hour!!!

Everything is possible these days. It is a shame that Ford didn't do some share buy back when its stock fell to $4.95.

 

Only the UAW can help Ford now. UAW is about to become the second largest shareholder of Ford, but that is not going to happen until 2009/2010. Only if there is a way to quicken the transfer of Retiree trust fund to the UAW VEBA.

[suv_guy_19]

And that was the proof I needed.

Edited May 10, 2008 by suv_guy_19

[atomaro]

Salsakingcpa and Donzuchowski......you are not supposed to drink the water from in the bong. :devil2:

[Mark8LSC CE0464]

You fool, you can't take control from the Ford family as they own the only block of shares that have the voting rights to change anything!

 

Trolls are complete idiots!

[salsakingcpa]

Ford family owns 40% of totals voting shares with less than 5% of shares (each share gives the Ford Family around 16 votes). I think the weakest link is the Ford Family itself, if some family members side with Tracinda, then Game is over.

 

That means 60% of Ford is controlled by regular shareholders like you and me, and this 60% voting power is represented by almost 95% of total shares outstanding.

 

I support current Ford Management including Mr. Alan Mulally, CEO; Mr. Farley, VP; and Mr. Bill Ford, Chairman, but there are lots of shareholders who are really fed up now because Ford's share price plummeted from how much a share ($45) to $8.20.

 

In order for Tracinda to take control, it would need around 40/50% of 95% shares of 2.2 billion shares outstanding which is equivalent to 880/1100 million shares @ 10 a share is equal to $8.5/11.0 billion dollars. Doing the math right, if Tracinda and its friends have 5 to 11 billion dollars then it could take over Ford Motor.

 

 

Tracinda could take over for even less money if some Ford family members and disenchanted shareholders side with Tracinda.

I hope this never happens because everyone is going to lose except Tracinda.

Edited May 10, 2008 by salsakingcpa

[jpd80]

Actually, Tracinda would need something like a 86% of ordinary voting shares to be assured of

out manouvering the Fords. This would need to be alliance votes from disaffected share holders

as even Captain Kirk doesn't have the cash to buy that many.

 

I think he has a better chance of winning $350 million on the lottery.

 

I think you'll find Special B Voting shares can only be sold back to Ford motor or other Family members.

Edited May 10, 2008 by jpd80

[suv_guy_19]

Actually, Tracinda would need something like a 86% of ordinary voting shares to be assured of

out manouvering the Fords. This would need to be alliance votes from disaffected share holders

as even Captain Kirk doesn't have the cash to buy that many.

 

I think he has a better chance of winning $350 million on the lottery.

 

I think you'll find Special B Voting shares can only be sold back to Ford motor or other Family members.

 

I think you'll find that your response fell on deaf ears.

[salsakingcpa]

Actually, Tracinda would need something like a 86% of ordinary voting shares to be assured of out manouvering the Fords. This would need to be alliance votes from disaffected share holdersas even Captain Kirk doesn't have the cash to buy that many.I think he has a better chance of winning $350 million on the lottery.

 

NO!!!

A shareholder proposal to recapitalize Ford's outstanding shares so that each share gets one vote -- wiping out the family's special 40% voting power -- was rejected by 72.8% of votes. Excluding shares owned by the family, about half of the votes favored the nonbinding resolution.

 

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...1014/BUSINESS01

 

 

I am with you jpd80, and am not trying to negate or contradict your argument; I am just providing the facts. It is true that the B shares can only be traded among family members, but those holding the B shares are free to vote to whatever cause they want to. In other words, if some B shareholders vote to put Tracinda's appointee as a board member, then there is nothing other Ford Members can do about it. If some B shareholders vote to sell the company to VW or anybody, then the rest of B shareholders can do nothing about it. Those are the facts.

Edited May 10, 2008 by salsakingcpa

[jpd80]

Hence, the call for unity amongst Ford family members.

Why would they vote that weasel, York into the hen house.

His motives are not for the good of the company, just short term pump amd dump.

Edited May 11, 2008 by jpd80

[salsakingcpa]

Hence, the call for unity amongst Ford family members.Why would they vote that weasel, York into the hen house.His motives are not for the good of the company, just short term pump and dump.

 

I concur with you 100%

 

Someone else from the yahoo finance board said the same thing:

 

Re: Kirk and Short Interest 9-May-08 11:37 pm

you seem to be okay with kerk comming into the picture .he is a parasite and his previous wheeling and dealing are questionable, if we have a semblance of a turnaround story why sell ,i see a tripple bagger in 2 years if all the pieces fall into place ,why should ford family relinquish control , they would also benefit from a tripple bagger..he didn't contribute much in previous hostile advances why should this time be different. there's already one paid kerkorian poster trying to do damage control( on this message board) and has nothing but praise for this parasite...

 

http://messages.finance.yahoo.com/Business...&mid=623734

[salsakingcpa]

I think he has a better chance of winning $350 million on the lottery.

I think you'll find Special B Voting shares can only be sold back to Ford motor or other Family members.

 

 

Kirk is worth at least 20 billion dollars:

Kirk Kerkorian, owner of the MGM Mirage, is $2 billion richer and worth $20 billion, and that was in 2007.

 

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:yvK3z...lient=firefox-a

[jpd80]

He doesn't want to get there, with a hostile take over declared, the shares will increase in front of him.

He will then need all of his $20 billion to make any sort of power play work.

At that point with people speculating and buying Ford stock, he will cut and run with a big profit.

 

A leopard doesn't change his spots, he's going 3 for 3 but Mulally and the Fords see him comin'.

Edited May 11, 2008 by jpd80

[salsakingcpa]

I'm a merger/acquisition guru; by now, Tracinda could be controlling 10% of Ford ordinary shares (directly or indirectly). The 8.50 tender has served as a ceiling/cap for ford stocks. Most likely by now, his company could acquire 20 percent of Ford's ordinary shares at 8.50 a share if Tracinda wants to do it. Why do you think this stock was pushed all the way down to 4.95? There was a major call squeeze (meaning long time Ford shareholders lost shares when stock dipped below 5 dollars). By now, major brokers and investment houses could be holding as much as 50 percent of ordinary shares ready to unload it for a tidy profit. Heck, if Tracinda wants to own Ford, it could own it for a chop change. But, does Tracinda want to do it? That's the question we should be asking. Timing is not right to own Ford though, and Tracinda knows this. Most likely, it wants to buy a controlling stake, and unload it to a larger company like VW for a huge profit.

Edited May 11, 2008 by salsakingcpa

[jpd80]

55% of ordinary shares in his posession is not enough for company control, he knows that.

 

You started off saying he wanted to control the company but now you've changed your mind.

Thank you for agreeing finally to what we've all been saying, Kerkorian will pump and dump.

That has been his intent all along and you my friend have just told us how he intends to hatch

his feindish plot. Depending on how much money he wants he could as you say, buy up to 55%

of ordinary stock and flip for a tidy profit but to whom?

 

Who would love to get 55% of Ford A Stock for oh, let's say $20 billion?

 

That is a scary thought!!!

Edited May 11, 2008 by jpd80

[Cougarpower]

But do you guys think that if Tracinda tries to do this Bill and the family will stay like nothing is happening, and if a family member plans on selling there shares , the family members have the first right to buy there shares and thats why Elena Ford said that if any member wanted to sell she would buy them and if Im correct there is a family fund too that if a member wants to sell the family can buy them through that fund

and read this and you will understand why this will never happen

DEARBORN -- The press release dubbed it an "innovative and unprecedented" move to reward Ford Motor Co. shareholders with stock or cash from the automaker's bulging financial reserves.

 

But the long-term effect of Ford's "Value Enhancement Plan" of 2000 extended far beyond doling out new shares or cash windfalls to loyal investors.

 

In one bold stroke, the plan cemented the founding Ford family's control over the world's No. 2 automaker, and guaranteed that the dynasty started by Henry Ford would continue into the 21st century.

 

Besides receiving $1.4 billion worth of new common stock, the Ford family retained the crucial 40 percent voting rights conferred on their Class B shares when the company went public in 1956.

 

The plan, commonly referred to as the VEP, gave shareholders the option of receiving $20 in cash for each share owned, or new stock of equal value.

 

But the 62-page document also reaffirmed the extraordinary powers of the Ford family's 70.9 million shares of Class B stock -- including the exclusive right to approve a merger, sale or liquidation of the company.

 

With the issuance of millions of new Ford shares, the family's Class B stock now accounts for only 3.7 percent of the company's total equity, down from 4.9 percent before the VEP.

 

Yet even as their ownership stake declined, the heirs of Henry Ford kept their ironclad hold on the Class B stock's 40 percent voting power.

 

"That (VEP) transaction, while beneficial to all shareholders, was most beneficial to the Fords," said Scott Hill, an auto industry analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

 

 

Ford Chairman Bill Ford Jr., the great-grandson of Henry Ford, defended the VEP as a boon to all stockholders and not just the Ford family.

 

"The family was treated just like any other shareholder," he said. "I believe it was an unfair criticism. Others clearly saw it differently."

 

At least two major shareholders saw it very differently.

 

In a proxy statement, the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-Cref) and the California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers) blasted the "ominous precedent" of preserving the Ford family's voting power.

 

"This is fundamentally at odds with the one share, one vote principle that constitutes the single most important tenet of good corporate governance," TIAA-Cref and Calpers, owners of nearly 15 million Ford shares, said in 2000.

 

A traditional stock buyback, they claimed, also would have boosted shareholder value.

 

"Management made a conscious decision to pursue the VEP in lieu of (a buyback), however, in an apparent attempt to preserve the Ford family's voting power," they said.

 

That should come as no surprise to students of Ford history.

 

"The Class B shares are why Ford is still run by Fords and DuPont is not run by du Ponts and Dodge is not run by Dodges," said Bob Casey, historian at The Henry Ford museum.

 

Beginning in 1936

 

The origin of the Class B shares dates back to 1936 when Henry Ford and his son, Edsel, created the Ford Foundation as a means to avoid potentially devastating inheritance taxes.

 

Henry Ford entrusted his corporate counsel at the time, Clifford Longley, to come up with an ownership structure that would keep Fords in charge of Ford -- even after Henry and Edsel died.

 

"It is your desire to perpetuate ownership control of Ford Motor Co. in the Ford family as far as it was legally possible," Longley wrote Henry Ford in a letter on file at the Benson Ford Research Center.

 

Longley's solution? Give 95 percent of the stock owned by the Fords to the new foundation as Class A, nonvoting shares. Henry and Edsel kept 5 percent of the shares -- and 100 percent of the votes.

 

In 1956, managers of the Ford Foundation lobbied then-Chairman Henry Ford II for the chance to diversify the foundation's holdings. The decision would impact Ford's corporate governance for decades to come.

 

The foundation put up 10.8 million shares of Ford stock for sale to the public. Those shares became common stock with a single vote each, or 60 percent voting power.

 

The Ford family's shares -- 6.5 million at the time -- were reclassified as Class B stock, with a voting stake of 40 percent. The Class B stock could only be owned by Fords. If sold to outsiders, the shares convert to common stock.

 

Conditions attached

 

But critical conditions were attached to the Class B shares owned by the family. They kept 40 percent voting rights unless the number of their shares fell below a specified level, when it would shrink to 30 percent. At an even lower threshold, a Class B share would have the same one vote as a common share does.

 

More importantly, the corporation could not take certain actions without a vote of the majority of the Class B shares. According to the 1956 prospectus, Ford could not be merged, sold or liquidated without the approval of the Class B holders.

 

In essence, the Ford family alone would determine the future of the Ford Motor Co.

 

Over time, as Ford issued common stock to raise capital, the Class B shares became a smaller slice of its shareholder equity.

 

At the time of the VEP, there were 1.13 billion shares of common stock, and 70.9 million shares of Class B. Even with only 5 percent of the total stock, the Class B shares commanded 40 percent voting power.

 

Edsel B. Ford II, a Ford director since 1988, said the family's voting muscle has been a shield against an unwanted takeover.

 

"It would be very difficult to be raided because the Ford family controls a 40 percent vote," he said. "It would be almost impossible."

 

But family members would hardly sell Class B shares. If their holdings drop below 60.7 million shares, their voting power shrinks to 30 percent. If they own fewer than 33.7 million shares, all special rights are lost forever.

 

With the potential for huge inheritance taxes on the horizon, the family needed liquid assets at its disposal.

 

The VEP handled that. Just like other shareholders, family members received new common stock for every share owned. The Ford family received common stock then-valued at $1.4 billion, shares that could be sold without any threat to the 40-percent voting rights.

 

In fact, the additional common stock, on top of the Class B shares, gives the family 42 percent of the shareholder votes.

 

Critics wonder why

 

Three years later, critics still wonder why the family merits such treatment.

 

"Their influence should be proportionate to their risk," said John Chevedden, a Ford shareholder who is using the 2003 annual meeting on June 16 to propose an independent board committee to address "conflicts of interest" between the family and other shareholders.

 

One conflict that theoretically could arise is a takeover offer. With Ford's stock price hovering at $10 a share, the company could be bought at a bargain price.

 

But deep in the VEP, on page 57, it's clear that the power to sell Ford rests solely with the family.

 

In a section titled "Voting by Class," the company said that a majority vote of Class B shareholders was required to "merge or consolidate with or into another corporation ... dispose of all or substantially of our property and assets ... transfer any assets to another corporation ... voluntarily liquidate or dissolve."

 

Only the Fords can decide the fate of Ford? That hardly surprises industry experts.

 

"Control is control," said Hill. "Let's not kid ourselves. It's nothing new."

[J-150]

A leopard doesn't change his spots, he's going 3 for 3 but Mulally and the Fords see him comin'.

 

 

 

I think the key difference here is that Ford has control over its' own fate.

 

Wagoner told Kirk to F-off and he was just a CEO. The Family truly controls the company so when they tell him to F-off it won't be posturing. They will actually be able to send him away with little effort.

 

 

Reality is, Kirk will be dead soon (he's 91) This is his last little powerplay to try and play his "game"

[donzuchowski]

Salsakingcpa and Donzuchowski......you are not supposed to drink the water from in the bong. :devil2:

 

darn i knew it tasted funny.

[donzuchowski]

You fool, you can't take control from the Ford family as they own the only block of shares that have the voting rights to change anything!

 

Trolls are complete idiots!

 

ford and the government are bein sued over these types of special voting shares. Someone wants to make them illegal. I think they should be illegal. why should a minarity owener control the company?

[suv_guy_19]

ford and the government are bein sued over these types of special voting shares. Someone wants to make them illegal. I think they should be illegal. why should a minarity owener control the company?

 

Because its their company. I think if it were to become illegal, Ford would simply go private.

[jpd80]

I think the key difference here is that Ford has control over its' own fate.

 

Wagoner told Kirk to F-off and he was just a CEO. The Family truly controls the company so when they tell him to F-off it won't be posturing. They will actually be able to send him away with little effort.

 

 

Reality is, Kirk will be dead soon (he's 91) This is his last little powerplay to try and play his "game"

It's not the control of Ford that I'm concerned about.

It's the injury to stock prices he could inflict with his pump and dump schemes.

 

Salsakincpa may have some wacky notions but he's right in saying there's a lot of loose A Stock

out there in brokers hands, let's say at best Kerkorian gets hold of 25-50% of these A Stocks.

While he will never have control of Ford, he can then sell that tidy block of Ford Motor to a competitor.

 

The man is dangerous to Ford because of what his scheming could do to Ford's stock.

Edited May 11, 2008 by jpd80