Shake up at Ford. CEO Mark Fields Fired

**Lowell** · May-22-17, 08:14 AM

I picked up this rumbling from Forbes yesterday and if it hasn't yet happened will likely happen any minute now.

"Ford Motor Co. has fired CEO Mark Fields and will replace him with James Hackett, head of the automaker's Smart Mobility arm, as part of a broad management shakeup, according to reports by Forbes and other news organizations.

An announcement will be made Monday, a source close to the situation told Forbes.

Ford would not confirm the reports, saying in a statement: "We are staying focused on our plan for creating value and profitable growth. We do not comment on speculation or rumors."

Hackett, 62, former CEO of Grand Rapids-based office furniture maker Steelcase Inc., was on Ford's board from 2013 until last year, when he took charge of Ford Smart Mobility LLC."
Quoted from Crain's Detroit Business.

See also ongoing DetroitYES discussion thread for some good in depth discussion behind this move:
And It Begins - Ford To Cut 10% Of Workforce

**Richard** · May-22-17, 11:16 AM

They are not saying who is takeing over the smart mobility branch.

It is going to be interesting to see how this all plays out,they are pushing stock values.

The other two by excepting the bailouts are forced to continue to work on smart cars and excepting the losses where Ford can forgo that and can bring the stock back up and wait it out until the smart car demand has a payback.

It sounds like because of the unions that they are looking at streamlining management to cut costs,they are locked in for 3 years under the last contract?

They either sell more product to increase profit or cut the cost of production to make the same selling less cars.

I am thinking that if the big three go into a slowdown then the suppliers who still have to pay the bills will start excepting the contracts from the southern builders at a cheaper rate that they wanted then they have them over a barrel.

In the seventies,ford worker engine builders went on strike,so Ford went to Fred Jones,he says sure but after the strike is over you still have to buy my engines for factory replacements.

I am not a Ford fan but I give them tons of credit as it seems like they are getting in front of the eight ball on this,it is to bad that the stockholders do not have the faith and patience and keep trying to force the hand of the experts,all back to the quick buck short term.

Nobody just makes a plain truck anymore,8 foot bed,rubber floor mats etc just a cost effective plain Jane work truck.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · May-22-17, 02:51 PM

Nobody just makes a plain truck anymore,8 foot bed,rubber floor mats etc just a cost effective plain Jane work truck.

Yeah they do. The Silverado W/T [[Work Truck) is suppose to be their base truck. Now whether you can get rubber floor mats, radio delete and basic trim, I don't know. Also not sure what price point qualify's a base truck. I'm sure Ford and Dodge have a entry level truck as well, but I agree that most full size trucks are loaded with options that rival a luxury car, which pushes the price up to astronomical figures. You can easily pay upwards of $70,000 for one.

**Lowell** · May-22-17, 04:52 PM

Originally Posted by Richard

They are not saying who is taking over the smart mobility branch.

It is going to be interesting to see how this all plays out,they are pushing stock values.

The other two by accepting the bailouts are forced to continue to work on smart cars and accepting the losses where Ford can forgo that and can bring the stock back up and wait it out until the smart car demand has a payback.

It sounds like because of the unions that they are looking at streamlining management to cut costs,they are locked in for 3 years under the last contract?

They either sell more product to increase profit or cut the cost of production to make the same selling less cars.

I am thinking that if the big three go into a slowdown then the suppliers who still have to pay the bills will start excepting the contracts from the southern builders at a cheaper rate that they wanted then they have them over a barrel.

In the seventies,ford worker engine builders went on strike,so Ford went to Fred Jones,he says sure but after the strike is over you still have to buy my engines for factory replacements.

I am not a Ford fan but I give them tons of credit as it seems like they are getting in front of the eight ball on this,it is to bad that the stockholders do not have the faith and patience and keep trying to force the hand of the experts,all back to the quick buck short term.

Nobody just makes a plain truck anymore,8 foot bed,rubber floor mats etc just a cost effective plain Jane work truck.

From the news conference I learned that smart mobility was Hackett's, the new guy, old job. I find it difficult to think they will veer away from that.

Ford's problem isn't making money, not right now anyway, it is direction. It is difficult to answer the question of where Ford is going and a failure to excite anybody with its products. In advertising speak they lack sizzle.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · May-23-17, 09:56 AM

Now they are saying Fields retired at 56, not fired as first reported. Report says he had a hard time getting along with people, due to his personality.

**Pat001** · May-23-17, 03:43 PM

Ford insiders said Fields was another Jac Nasser - neglecting the core business of building cars and trucks that people want to buy, and burning cash on non-core boondoggles.

**mjb3** · May-26-17, 11:14 AM

Funny this was all driven by the mania over tesla stock and their market cap surpassing Ford. Tesla has had 3 black quarter out of the last 15 and the stock rises regardless.
Meanwhile, Ford piles up profits but stock tanks.
How do you measure CEO, by profits[[results) or stock price[[fads)...

**Richard** · May-26-17, 02:13 PM

Originally Posted by mjb3

Funny this was all driven by the mania over tesla stock and their market cap surpassing Ford. Tesla has had 3 black quarter out of the last 15 and the stock rises regardless.
Meanwhile, Ford piles up profits but stock tanks.
How do you measure CEO, by profits[[results) or stock price[[fads)...

I am am not a stock expert but I kinda view Tesla as a technology stock verses a automotive manufacturer,I think the perceived value there is in hopes for future breakthroughs in technology that pay high dividends,kinda like Facebook etc.

I am not a ford fan as I said but I do have some of their stock and look more at long term stability,which they have always had sans the expected ups and downs and not that hoped for massive payout based on speculation.

The whole Tesla thing even though they produce a good car and have their fingers in a lot of infancy technology aspects it just seems like it is for parking a lot of money at high risk and is subject to another dot com bust situation.High risk with high payout.

Maybe that thinking could be why I do not have massive amounts of money.