Thursday, July 21, 2022

UNJUST TRANSITION BIDEN GREEN JOBS KAPUT
Ford is reportedly planning to cut 8,000 jobs to help fund its EV plans


Engadget

Steve Dent
·Contributing Reporter
Thu, July 21, 2022 

Ford is reportedly planning to cut up to 8,000 jobs over the coming weeks in an effort to fund its plans to build EVs, according to Bloomberg. The layoffs would occur at its Ford Blue unit, recently created to develop vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE), and would affect other salaried positions in the company. The bulk of cuts are expected to occur in the US.

In March, Ford CEO Jim Farley restructured the company, dividing it into the Ford Blue and Model E divisions, with the latter dedicated to electric cars and pickups like the Mach E and F150 Lightning. As part of that, he announced plans to cut $3 billion in costs by 2026, with the aim of transforming Ford Blue into "the profit and cash engine" for the entire company.


"As part of this, we have laid out clear targets to lower our cost structure to ensure we are lean and fully competitive with the best in the industry," Ford's CCO Mark Truby told Bloomberg in a statement, without revealing more details about the cuts. Ford currently employees around 31,000 salaried US workers.

In March, the automaker announced plans to boost electric vehicle spending to $50 billion and plan to build two million EVs by 2026. The company sold just 27,140 EVs stateside last year, but got a significant 76.6 percent boost last month as shipping commenced for the F-150 Lightning.

WHITE, BLUE OR PINK 
NO MATTER THE COLOR OF YOUR COLLAR 
WE ARE ALL PROLETARIANS NOW

  • In March, the company created electric vehicle and internal combustion businesses, Model e and Ford Blue, respectively, to compete and win against both new EV competitors and established automakers.

  • The major portion of the job cut is likely to happen in the U.S., where the auto major has about 31,000 salaried workers.

  • The report noted that Ford CEO, Jim Farley, hinted in February that leaner staff is a key to boosting profits.

  • "We have too many people," Farley said at a Wolfe Research auto conference in February. "This management team firmly believes that our ICE and BEV portfolios are under-earning."


Ford will cut thousands of jobs as it eyes transition to electric vehicles



Gino Spocchia
Thu, July 21, 2022 

Ford will cut 8,000 jobs in in the coming weeks in a bid to reduce costs and bolster investment in electric vehicles, a report has said.

The Detroit-based company has not confirmed the cuts, which were first revealed on Wednesday by Bloomberg, and could still change.

According to the report, about 8,000 jobs could be cut from the newly created Ford Blue unit working on the company’s internal combustion engine operations.

Cuts, which could begin before the end of the summer, will also reportedly occur in other areas of the motor business and among salaried employees.

Ford will reportedly use the savings to invest further in electric vehicles, aiming to produce more than 2 million a year by 2026. The company is expected to tell its investors of its plans on Thursday.

TR Red, a spokesperson for Ford, said in a statement to Reuters that the company was committed to “reshaping our work and modernising our organisation”, but would not confirm the cuts.

“We remain focused on reshaping our work and modernising our organization across all automotive business units and across the company,” Mr Reid said. “As part of this, we have laid out clear targets to lower our cost structure to ensure we are lean and fully competitive with the best in the industry”.

Ford’s chief executive officer Jim Farley said earlier this year the company needed to find $50bn in profits from the sale of diesel engine vehicles – and via the innovation of the Ford Blue unit – to fund further investment in electric vehicles, of which only 27,140 were sold by Ford in the US last year.

In July, Ford reported selling 76.6 per cent more electric vehicles than a year ago with 4,353 units sold in June alone, according motor news site CBT News.

So far this year, electric vehicle sales in the US have been twice the amount of last year, but as The New York Times reported last week, the figure is still only around five per cent of the overall sales market.

Additional reporting by Reuters

NO NEED TO CUT JOBS WHEN FORD CAN AFFORD NOT TO GIVE AWAY DIVIDENDS AND SHARE BUY BACKS (USED TO PUMP UP CEO SHARE PRICES)

https://ycharts.com/companies/F/stock_buyback

Stock buybacks are when companies buy back their own stock, removing it from the marketplace. Stock buybacks increase the value of the remaining shares ...

https://www.barrons.com/articles/ford-gm-stock-dividends-51655389524

Jun 17, 2022 ... Ford reinstated its dividend last fall after suspending it more than two years ago when ... Neither company has been buying back much stock.

https://www.barrons.com/articles/ford-rivian-stock-price-stake-sale-51652256380

May 11, 2022 ... Ford sold 8 million shares of Rivian worth about $214 million on Monday. That leaves the auto maker with about 94 million shares of the ...


https://seekingalpha.com/article/4503372-is-ford-wasting-money-on-dividends-heres-the-verdict

Apr 25, 2022 ... Ford, famously, focuses on dividends and not buybacks. The company did not allocate funds for share repurchases in 2020 and 2021. Ford spent ...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-08/bill-ford-acquires-2-million-shares-with-stock-near-20-year-high

Dec 8, 2021 ... Ford Motor Co. Chair Bill Ford acquired almost 2 million shares of his company for about $20.5 million through the exercise of stock options ...


https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ford-stock-rallies-after-move-to-buyback-up-to-5-billion-of-higher-yield-debt-2021-11-04

Nov 4, 2021 ... Shares of Ford Motor Co. F, +1.11% rallied 1.9% in premarket trading Thursday, after the auto maker said it launched a tender offer to ...

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/04/ford-to-repurchase-up-to-5-billion-in-junk-bonds-as-it-restructures-its-balance-sheet.html

Nov 4, 2021 ... Ford is buying back much of the $8 billion in bonds the company issued at the start the coronavirus pandemic at lofty yields of between 8.5% and ...

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ford-stock-rallies-after-move-to-buyback-up-to-5-billion-of-higher-yield-debt-2021-11-04

Nov 4, 2021 ... Shares of Ford Motor Co. F, +1.11% rallied 1.9% in premarket trading Thursday, after the auto maker said it launched a tender offer to ...


https://money.cnn.com/2000/09/14/companies/ford_buyback

Sep 14, 2000 ... Ford Motor Co. said Thursday it is buying back up to $5 billion of company stock, settling fears by some analysts and investors that its ...


Ford reportedly preparing to slash 8,000

 jobs to help fund EV transition

Ford Motor Co. is getting ready to eliminate up to 8,000 jobs in the coming weeks to help fund its push into electric vehicles, according to a news report.

Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources familiar with the plan, said Wednesday the cuts will come largely in the newly created Ford Blue unit that produces gasoline-powered vehicles, as well as "other salaried operations throughout the company." The plan has reportedly not yet been finalized, so details may change.

The news comes on the heels of Michigan giving the automaker a $100 million tax-funded incentive package in June as part of a plan to create new jobs in the state. The Bloomberg report does not mention how many jobs might be cut in Michigan.

Ford spokesman Mark Truby told the Detroit Free Press that he could not confirm the Bloomberg report.

Ford CEO Jim Farley set a plan to build 2 million electric vehicles a year by 2026.

Ford CEO Jim Farley has said he plans to slash $3 billion in costs by 2026 and that he wants to turn Ford Blue into “the profit and cash engine for the entire enterprise.” In March, Farley restructured the automaker to create two businesses: the “Model e” unit to develop EVs and “Ford Blue” to focus on internal combustion engine vehicles such as the popular F-150 pickup, the Mustang and the Bronco SUV.

More: In big shift for Ford, 2 longtime execs to retire, 1 former Amazon exec joins team

More: Ford's plan to cut $3B in waste will funnel money from gas vehicles to fund electric, tech

More: Ford CEO says automaker needs 'totally different talent' to meet goals. Here's why

Bloomberg reported that the job cuts are expected to hit a variety of operational functions among Ford’s white-collar workforce and they may come in phases, but are likely to begin this summer. The majority of the cuts are expected to be in the U.S. where Ford employs about 31,000 salaried workers.

Ford declined to comment on "speculation" about its business. Spokesman T.R. Reid said in an email to the Free Press, "As we’ve said lots of times, to deliver our Ford+ transformation and lead an exciting and disruptive new era of electric and connected vehicles, we’re reshaping our work and modernizing our organization across all of the automotive business units and the entire company. We’ve laid out clear targets for our cost structure so that we’re lean and fully competitive with the best in the industry."

In March, Farley boosted Ford's spending on EVs to $50 billion, up from $30 billion through 2026. He set a plan to build 2 million EVs a year by 2026. Last year, Ford sold 27,140 EVs.

Ford's crosstown rival, General Motors, is investing $35 billion in EV and self-driving car technology by mid decade with the goal to sell one million EVs in the U.S. by that time.

Farley has said workforce reduction is a key to boosting profits, which have eroded on its Mustang Mach-E and other plug-in models because of the automaker's increased costs for commodities and warranties.

“We have too many people,” Farley said at a Wolfe Research auto conference in February. “This management team firmly believes that our ICE and BEV portfolios are under-earning.”

More: Michigan Assembly Plant manager who oversees Bronco, Ranger no longer with Ford

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ford reportedly preparing to slash 8,000 jobs to help EV transition

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