Ford, Facing Investor Pressure, Will Cut 1,400 Salaried Jobs -
By NEAL E. BOUDETTEMAY 17, 2017
Ford Motor said Wednesday that it would cut 10 percent of its salaried jobs in North America
and Asia as part of a cost-saving move aimed at increasing sagging profits and propping up its stock price.
When it announced quarterly earnings last month, Ford said it would achieve $3 billion in cost efficiencies in the current year, mostly offsetting the
cost of investments in those “emerging opportunities,” an allusion to technologies like driverless and electric vehicles and ride-hailing services.
Its stock has declined about 40 percent since Mr. Fields was named chief executive three years ago,
and almost 10 percent since Jan. 1, even as the overall market has risen.
Mr. Fields has made significant spending commitments as part of a bid to shed the Rust Belt image of auto manufacturing
and reposition Ford as a forward-looking “mobility company.”
Among the initiatives is a plan to create a sprawling, high-tech headquarters campus in Dearborn,
Mich., of energy-efficient buildings that will be linked by self-driving vehicles.
Ford also pledged to invest $1 billion over the next five years in the software company Argo AI, which the automaker is counting on to develop artificial intelligence technology
that will serve as the brains of future autonomous vehicles.