Ford Family Weighs Sale of Shares, Media Reports
May 14, 2007

Members of Ford Motor Co.'s founding family are discussing the sale of part of their controlling stake in the automaker, sources with direct knowledge of the talks told Bloomberg in a post today.

Bloomberg reports Chairman Bill Ford briefed Ford’s board directors on family members' views before the annual shareholders meeting last week in Wilmington, Delaware. 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, Bloomberg reported.

A family attorney denied the reports to Dow Jones.

The Ford family owns 71 million Class B shares, the value of which has plummeted 74 percent since 1999. That’s $584 million from $2.3 billion since Bill Ford became chairman eight years ago. In addition, Ford eliminated dividends last September, wiping out about $85 million in annual income for the family.

At last week’s annual meeting, Bill Ford came under fire by shareholders who accused him and other Ford family members of being responsible for the company’s demise. The automaker lost a record $12.4 billion last year.

One shareholder proposal called for the founding Ford family to be stripped of its voting power by converting Ford Class B stock to common stock. It was the third consecutive year such a proposal was on the ballot, but this one captured the most votes yet at 27.4 percent.

Bloomberg’s report follows numerous newspaper and magazine reports that suggest the Ford family is discussing what to do with its stock. A recent issue of Fortune magazine said some Ford family members had sought the advice of professionals regarding what to do with their stock. The new Conde Nast business magazine, Portfolio, in a profile of Bill Ford said the same thing.

Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:51 AM under Ford , Rumors | Comments (0) | digg this | Seed Newsvine