Ford plans job cuts to boost profits

Its share price has fallen 21pc since July, and is down 18pc in the past year.

The job reductions, expected to be disclosed as early as this week, affect salaried employees and aim to cut Ford’s global head count by about 10 percent, the Journal reported late Monday. It’s unclear whether hourly factory workers are included, the newspaper said. While the company did not officially announce the job cuts, they did not deny the report either.

In a statement, the company said it’s focused on reducing costs and improving efficiency. The auto maker said it has not announced any job cust.

We’ve also heard that Ford will boost (or “fortify”) what it calls its “profit pillars”, the most profitable segments of its current automaking business (trucks, commercial vehicles, SUVs, performance cars, and Ford Credit). Post the criticism, Ford had chose to create about 700 jobs in MI, instead of building a $1.6 billion auto factory in Mexico. “In our view Ford’s stock has suffered from both a lack of a “Tweet”-worthy EV (electric vehicle) / AV (autonomous vehicle) strategy and a string of disappointing earnings and guidance”.

Ford’s share price has been sliding since Mark Fields took over as chief executive in 2014.

Auto sales fell in March and April, with Ford falling 7.2% in year-over-year sales.

Ford fell 0.3 percent to $10.91 as of 12:06 p.m.in NY trading.

While Mr. Fields worked to ease political tensions, he hasn’t been able to answer investor concerns about Ford’s ability to weather a downturn or find new sources of revenue.

Ford’s market share lags behind that of General Motors (GM) and recently has been passed by Tesla (TSLA).

“Belt tightening comes as no surprise with sales softening and profits squeezed”, Detroit Free Press quoted Michelle Krebs as saying. Ford has about 30,000 salaried workers in the United States.

Worldwide, the company employs about 200,000 people.

Plans for the next Mexican plant were dropped because of lower demand for small cars altogether.