Members of Ford Motor Co's founding family are discussing the sale of part of their controlling stake in the money-losing automaker, three people with direct knowledge of the talks said.
Chairman Bill Ford briefed directors on family members' views before the annual shareholders meeting last week in Wilmington, Delaware, one of the people said.
At a gathering last month, some family members urged that investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners be hired to advise on a share sale or alternative strategies, the person said.
Ford, the second-largest US automaker, lost a record US$12.6 billion last year, and the shares have plunged 74 percent since 1999. The family owns 71 million Class B shares, extending the power it has held since Henry Ford founded the firm in 1903.
The value of the shares has plummeted to US$584 million from US$2.3 billion since Bill Ford, great-grandson of the founder, became chairman eight years ago. The automaker eliminated dividends in September, wiping out about US$85 million in annual income the family received as recently as 2001, when the shares paid a US$0.30 dividend.
Disagreements among family members surfaced last July, when they considered whether Bill Ford should continue as chief executive officer, one of the people said. In September, the company hired Alan Mulally, head of Boeing Co's commercial-jet business, to succeed Bill Ford as chief executive.
A shareholder proposal to have one class of Ford stock, eliminating the B shares, was on the agenda for the third straight annual meeting last week and drew 27.4 percent of the vote, the highest ever. The company opposed the plan.
Shareholders are "attracted by long-term stability the Class B shareholders provide to the company," Bill Ford said at the meeting last Thursday.
Mulally, 61, declined to comment on the family's discussions after the meeting. He told reporters the Fords are "very, very supportive of the changes we're making. They are shareholders, they believe in Ford and want Ford to be successful."
No shareholders raised the family-control issue at the meeting. Ford spokesman Tom Hoyt would neither confirm nor deny that Bill Ford briefed directors on the family's discussions, saying the company doesn't comment on matters before the board.
At the family meeting on April 21 in Dearborn, Michigan, where Ford is based, members including Bill Ford's sister, Sheila, and her husband, Steven Hamp, supported retaining Perella Weinberg. Hamp is a former chief of staff for Bill Ford.
The idea was rejected after Bill Ford, 50, opposed it, as did his 82-year-old father, William, and his cousin, Edsel Ford II, 58, the person said. William Ford holds 11.1 million Class B shares, or 15.6 percent of the total. Bill and Edsel Ford are on the company board.
Joseph Perella and Peter Weinberg, principals of the New York investment bank, attended the family meeting, the person said. Joseph Perella didn't return phone calls seeking comment.
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