Bill Ford's 5-Year Paycheck!

There may be some great Chevy Malibu Deals going on right now, but the news that Bill Ford can bring to Ford Motor Company might be even bigger and better!  Bill Ford is the great-grandson of founder Henry Ford, who started Ford Motor Company in 1903.  Bill Ford declared in May of 2005 that he would no longer accept payments until Ford Motor Company began churning a profit again.  This happy story makes you wonder how many other executives have done something similar; perhaps at Peoria Volkswagen or Miami Freightliner Trucks?  It is unlikely, but we do know that the CEO of Toyota took a major, major pay cut after the Toyota recalls and many of their higher-up executives refused bonuses and also took voluntary pay cuts.

Bill Ford is the Executive Chairman, and after five years of refusing compensation, he is being given a paycheck in the amount of $4.2 million, which is payment from the beginning of 2008 up until present day.  He refused compensation until Ford was profitable, and with profits of $4.8 billion in 2009, the compensation committee came to an agreement that it was time to start paying the man again!  Bill Ford acted as CEO from 2001 until 2006 when Alan Mulally became chief executive.  For 2009 and 2010, both Bill Ford and Alan Mulally took 30% pay cuts until the business was out of the red.  

So how had Bill Ford been surviving since 2005?  Well, he used personal loans and purchased stock in 2004 and 2005.  According the the U.S. SEC, Bill Ford sold some of his personal shares of Ford Motor Company stock and received $28 million, some of which he used to repay his personal loans from 2004 through 2005.  Bill Ford also made a $1 million contribution to the scholarship he established in 2005 for the children of Ford Motor Company employees.

Ford Moving Full Steam Ahead after Big First Half;

Ford's executives and shareholders can not get enough of the latest news that Ford is doing well again and back to high profitability. Ford's models that have helped the company break its personal records can be found at Cincinnati Ford dealerships. Ford's new models generated $1 billion in net pricing increases. Ford sold many models at higher prices than it ever has. Ford dealer prices are more comparable to VW Dealer prices now with the price increases.

Concord Toyota Dealers hope that their automaker will continue to put out high quality rival models to Ford's latest lineup which is one of its best yet. Ford hopes to continue to break personal records for the rest of 2010, and the company is off to an excellent start for the year with its highest profit in over 12 years.

Ford hopes to continue to increase its earnings regardless of the somewhat slowed economic climate around the world. Ford had a 20 percent rise in U.S. sales with minimal discounts for the second quarter with a net income of $2.6 billion. The quarter was Ford's fifth straight profitable quarter.

Ford's CFO said that the company expects to maintain its higher pricing levels for the rest of 2010 and it will ease in pricing for 2011. Light vehicle sales in the United States are going to fall short of forecasts, but Ford will not let the news stop it from putting out several new models that are revamped or totally new from scratch.

Ford is closing the gap on both Asian and European competitors like Toyota, Volkswagen, Honda, and others. Ford is doing the best that they can to match the quality that these foreign competitors have been known to put out, and Ford will continue to do well as long as they follow this type of business model.

More About Ford Plans to Keep It Simple For Progress;

Ford certainly has had its struggles as many other automakers have over the past few years. Mazda, a former branch of Ford that is now in close association with Ford is a major competitor of Mitsubishi whose models can be bought at Mitsubishi St. Louis dealer. Ford's major competitor, GM, whose latest cars and trucks can be test driven at a Sarasota Chevrolet Dealer, has done well in its own turnaround, but not as well as Ford. Ford has surpassed GM and is even competing very well against traditionally power foreign brands like Volkswagen whose models can be purchased during Volkswagen Specials.

Ford made its intentions known that their business model would drastically change a few years before the 2009 automotive recession even began. But, Ford has made its turnaround ahead of its expected schedule, and although Ford is not at its destination as being one of the premier automakers in the world once again, the company is well on its way.

Ford is in the fourth year of its business turnaround plan that involved simplifying their business and focusing on their best models and brands. At one point in time, Ford offered 8 different brands: Ford, Mercury, Lincoln, Land Rover, Jaguar, Volvo, Aston Martin, and Mazda. However, the new focus of Ford is on two brands: Lincoln and Ford.

And the focus has definitely paid off. Both Lincoln and Ford are two of the major upcoming brands in markets throughout the world. The Lincoln MKZ hybrid is at the top of its class in terms of fuel efficiency. The Ford Fusion and other models are also top models in their own classes.

Rod Lache, an automotive analyst said that the turnaround of the company one of the most dramatic turnarounds he has ever seen. He said, "Ford is not only profitable — I think it is actually the most-profitable mass-market automaker in the world.”

The profitability and excellence that Ford has been shown is likely to only continue into the near future