Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian has sold his remaining 5 percent stake in Ford Motor Co, his investment company Tracinda Corp said.
Kerkorian, 91, has unloaded his last 107 million shares — a 4.89 percent stake — ending his investment with the troubled Dearborn, Michigan, automaker whose turnaround efforts he expressed confidence in earlier this year.
Kerkorian’s stake in Ford peaked in June, when he owned 6.49 percent after paying US$1 billion at an average share price of US$7.10.
He began scaling back his ownership in October, selling shares at an average price of US$2.43 each, according to regulatory filings. That marked a loss of about two-thirds of his investment, or about US$650 million.
Ford spokesman Mark Truby declined to comment on Kerkorian’s withdrawal and said the company “remains completely focused on executing our transformation plan.”
Kerkorian first said in April he would raise his existing stake in Ford to 5.6 percent, offering a 13.3 percent premium over the share’s existing price. The offer came just days after the automaker posted a surprise US$100 million first-quarter profit.
Kerkorian continued increasing his stake in June and met with Ford chief executive Alan Mulally and executive chairman Bill Ford to discuss the company’s turnaround plan.
But the situation for the auto industry has rapidly deteriorated since then. Last month, Ford posted a loss of US$129 million in the third quarter. Among Detroit’s automakers, the company is considered the best positioned to weather the industry slump and has said it does not need federal loans to survive. Nonetheless, its sales have slumped and its stock has withered.
Shares of Ford closed down US$0.07, or 3.1 percent, to US$2.22 on Monday and have fallen 66 percent so far this year.
“I just look at it as a negative indicator for the auto industry as a whole,” said Stephen Spivey, auto analyst for the consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. “The smart money is pulling out of this industry and you’ve got the taxpayer being the only significant investor left in these companies.”
Kerkorian’s Ford venture was the latest effort by the investor to build a significant investment in a US-based automotive company.
A year ago, Tracinda made an unsuccessful US$4.5 billion cash offer for Chrysler. It dumped the last block of what once was a nearly 10 percent share of General Motors Corp in 2006.
Kerkorian won a seat on GM’s board for Jerome York, one of his advisers, and he pushed for an alliance between GM, Nissan Motor Co and Renault SA. GM’s board voted to explore the possibility, but after three months of discussion, the idea was scrapped.
Tracinda, which is named after Kerkorian’s daughters, Tracy and Linda, holds the majority stake in casino and hotel operator MGM Mirage Inc.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary