Word: forde
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Former President Bill Clinton is riding green, thanks to Ford Motor Company. The automaker announced today that it has crafted a hybrid SUV fit for presidential service. In addition to getting 32 miles to the gallon, the Mercury Mariner Hybrid ?Presidential Edition? is designed to be an executive's office on wheels and boasts a Secret Service-approved security system...
...Bill Ford, who ran the automaker for the last five years, certainly realized the gravity of the situation, which explains why he brought in Mulally. At Boeing, Mulally had a reputation as an ace engineer and turnaround guy. He helped develop hit models like the 777 jetliner, launched in the early '90s, and the 787 Dreamliner, expected in 2008. After plane orders plummeted following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Mulally stabilized the commercial aircraft division, which is now earning handsome profits. Nor has he shied from downsizing. Under his reign, Boeing's commercial division layed off 30,000 workers, shuttered factories...
...many chief executives would even hint that they aren't up to the job. But Bill Ford never appeared all that comfortable running his namesake company. An avowed environmentalist, he tried unsuccessfully to turn Ford into a green car leader and was forced to backtrack as the company's finances fizzled. In Detroit, the buzz is that he's too nice a guy, unwilling to impose draconian job cuts at the risk of angering the UAW. In an interview last winter with TIME, he acknowledged that he found the CEO's role confining at times. And it has been clear...
...reality is that Wall Street had lost confidence in him. Ford's stock has rallied in recent weeks, rising more than 35% on speculation that Bill Ford might step aside and that his family, which controls 40% of the voting shares, may take the company private. Yet the stock, trading at around $8.50 a share, still indicates that Wall Street takes a dim view of Ford's prospects; the company's market capitalization is just $16 billion, well below the cash value of the firm. (Toyota's market cap, by contrast, is $174 billion.) Ford's debt was cut below...
...cars and trucks in the pipeline. But he also downplays any suggestions that he'll be Motown's Chainsaw Al - a guy who'll try and slash and burn his way into the black. "A momentum shift is how I'd characterize it," he says. Whether he'll shift Ford into a profitable gear remains to be seen...