Ford Motor to replace chief executive Mark Fields: report
22 May 2017
Ford Motor will replace its chief executive Mark Fields - a move seen to reflect the pressures on US auto industry - The New York Times reported citing officials briefed on the move.
Jim Hackett, who exercises oversight of the Ford subsidiary working on autonomous vehicles, will take over from Fields. According to the officials, Ford will make an announcement this morning, the officials said.
During the three-year tenure of Fields, Ford's shares dropped 40 per cent and he attracted flak from investors and Ford's board for failing to expand the company's core auto business. He also faced criticism for lagging in developing the high-tech cars of the future.
The move comes less than two weeks after Fields was sharply criticised during the company's annual shareholders' meeting for the company's deteriorating financial results.
Hackett, 62, joined the company last year as head of its ''smart mobility'' operation, which includes driverless technology. He was chief of the office furniture giant Steelcase prior to his GM assignment.
Last week, Fields, 56, announced cutting 1,400 salaried jobs, in an effort to strengthen Ford's bottom line. He was, however, unable to reverse the stock decline, and ran out of time to carry out his strategy to cut costs and expand Ford's lineup of trucks and sport utility vehicles, while also investing in autonomous and electrified vehicles.
"Look, we're as frustrated as you are by the stock price," Ford Jr told disgruntled investors earlier this month, pointing out that for the Ford family, "most of our net worth is tied up in the company."