Ford's CEO shake-up

Mark Fields led the 114-year-old company to its most profitable year ever in 2015. Now he's out. What happened?

Mark Fields.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

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"What looks like success can turn upside down quickly in Detroit these days," said Bill Vlasic at The New York Times. Ford Motor Co., the only U.S. automaker to avoid bankruptcy in the 2008 financial crisis, ousted CEO Mark Fields this week in a surprise shake-up. Fields had been with Ford for 28 years, the last three as CEO, and he led the 114-year-old company to its most profitable year ever in 2015, when it made nearly $11 billion — a figure it nearly matched last year. But investors have become convinced that Ford isn't moving fast enough "to develop the vehicles of the future." They're worried that Silicon Valley has stolen Detroit's mantle of automotive innovation, thanks to disruptive technologies like ride-hailing apps and self-driving cars. Even though Ford sells more vehicles in a month than electric-car maker Tesla sells in a year, Tesla is "now valued more highly"; Ford's stock, meanwhile, has fallen nearly 40 percent since 2014. For decades, automakers were "judged on how many vehicles they could manufacture and sell at a profit." As Fields' ouster makes clear, expectations have changed.

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