05-12-2006, 10:25 AM
Revelations from a recent Ford shareholder meeting:
Ford Shareholder Meeting Wrote:Asked about the company's commitment to reducing its reliance on gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs, Ford said the company was weighing a plug-in hybrid.
Plug-in hybrids can be charged from a mains outlet and have greater range in all-electric mode. For longer distances a small gasoline engine kicks in, powering the vehicle like the hybrids currently offered by automakers.
Ford Shareholder Meeting Wrote:Shareholders voted down a proposal that would have stripped the founding Ford family of much of its voting power, by converting Ford Class B stock to common stock.
The Class B stock, held mostly by Ford family members, allows 16 votes per share compared to one vote per share for regular shareholders. About 23 percent of votes cast were in favor of equalizing voting rights.
Ford Shareholder Meeting Wrote:Shareholder gadfly Evelyn Davis made an appearance at the meeting and sharply criticized Ford's plans to produce a reality television show featuring car designers. "This is outrageous that the board wants to spend money on a reality show," she said. "Somebody put the wool over your heads."
Bill Ford joked that "sometimes this meeting feels like" a reality TV show, but he said: "We're going to give it a shot. It's something very different for us."
Ford Shareholder Meeting Wrote:More than 95 percent of Ford shareholders voted against a a proposal to remove sexual orientation from the automaker's equal employment policy.
Ford has an ongoing struggle with a conservative Christian group over its support of gay rights groups and its decision to advertise in gay publications, a move that prompted the American Family Association to boycott against the company.
Ford Shareholder Meeting Wrote:"Mr. Ford is a failure," said Sam Joanette, a Miami Beach investor, who said he had lost about $1 million in Ford stock since 1999 and spoke in favor of requiring Ford to step down.
"Mr. Ford knows he is not qualified, that he is in over his head," said Joanette, who said Ford was engaged in a "never-ending restructuring" and unlikely to meet its commitment to return its auto operations to profit by 2008.
Other shareholders spoke in favor of Ford's leadership.
Ford did not respond to the criticism, instead telling shareholders that management understood that the market was shifting rapidly because of higher oil prices.