Michigan, Lake St. Clair, Ford Estate!

As the second largest automobile company in North America, the Ford family, one of the well-known families in North America, owns a Ford estate here.

At this time, Ford II, the head of the Ford family, lived here.

In the garden of the Ford Manor, Ford II, his brother William Ford, and Philip Caldwell, now the general manager of Ford Motor Company, were sitting on bamboo chairs and talking about recent events at Ford Motor Company.

Ford II is the grandson of Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company. His rise to power was not that easy. Henry Ford was an extremely cruel man. He was succeeded by Ethel Ford, the son of Henry Ford and the father of Ford II.

Henry Ford becomes the head of Ford Motor Company.

But everyone knows that Ethel Ford was just a facade and cheerleader promoted by Henry Ford, and all decisions about Ford cars were still made by Henry Ford.

In 1943, Ethelford died young. The doctor's diagnosis was very meaningful - the cause of death was complicated by gastric cancer, fever and a broken heart.

Subsequently, 80-year-old Henry Ford decided to come back and serve as chairman himself.

However, due to his health reasons, Henry Ford still brought his eldest grandson Henry Ford II, who was serving in the military, to take over and join the company's board of directors as executive vice president.

However, even though he is in a high position, Ford II actually still has no actual rights in Ford Motor Company. Old Ford always complained about his grandson, "He doesn't understand anything."

In the end, it was Ford II's mother who used the shares inherited from Ethel Ford as threats and insisted that Ford give up the throne to her eldest grandson.

If old Ford dares not to give up her position, she will dare to sell her shares in the company to outsiders.

This is absolutely unacceptable to old Ford.

Old Ford did not love money. His greatest wish was that the company he founded would always remain in his family.

So under such threats, Old Ford finally gave in.

Now the old Ford has long since passed away, and under the leadership of Ford II, Ford has become a phoenix and has become the second largest automobile manufacturer in North America after General Motors.

But at this time, Ford II encountered a troublesome thing.

He never thought that Ford would one day become the battlefield for a war between the other two major consortiums.

North America has always opened up battlefields in areas other than North America. When did our own place become someone else's battlefield?

This made Ford II very, very unhappy.

"How's the situation over there at Chu Huan?"

Ford II was sitting there with his legs crossed. Not far from where they were sitting, there were a pair of bronze statues. They were the images of Ford II's parents walking here when they were young.

Philip Caldwell said calmly, "KKR is still scanning the stock market on behalf of Chu Huan's North American AKU. It is estimated that Chu Huan's North American AKU should already hold 25% of Ford Motor Co.'s shares!"

As the general manager of Ford Motor Company, Philip Caldwell is also a legend in the North American auto industry because he will become the first person with a foreign surname to serve as Ford family car co-owner after Ford II retires.

This alone is enough for Philip Caldwell to leave his name in the North American automotive industry.

The most important thing is that he sat in this position for nearly 20 years!

"25?" Ford II flicked the cigar in his hand and said in a deep voice, "That means he has spent at least 1.2 billion US dollars?"

Philip Caldwell nodded and said, "If the data is like this, then his expenses should be around this number!"

"This is a huge amount of money. Can Chu Huan still have cash in his hand?" Ford II asked.

Philip Caldwell shook his head and said, "I'm afraid only Chu Huan knows this."

William Ford, who was sitting on the other side, was dissatisfied and said, "Have you not even found out the specific figures for such a long time?"

Faced with William Ford's question, Philip Caudell did not answer.

To put it simply, William Ford and Philip Caldwell were actually competitors.

Prior to this, the biggest call for Ford Motor Company was for William Ford to succeed his brother Ford II. After all, everyone knew that Ford Motor Co. was the purest family-owned company in North America.

But last year, the Continental, launched under the leadership of William Ford, suffered serious losses, causing Ford to post an annual loss for the first time since Ford II took over.

"The Romance of Fairy Wood"

Not only that, Ford Motor Company will continue to suffer losses year after year. It was not until Philip Caldwell officially became Ford Motor Co. that the situation was reversed.

This alone made William Ford the sinner of Ford Motor. If it hadn't been for Chu Huan's acquisition of Ford Motor's shares, the first thing that the entire Ford Motor board of directors would discuss now would be to invite William Ford.

It's something that's wrong with Ford's management.

Ford II waved his hand and said, "It won't be easy to know this kind of thing without the other party issuing an announcement, but don't worry, it's the weekend soon. When Monday comes, the North American A library will make an announcement in accordance with regulations.

The Ford Motor shares I hold in my hands!"

There is no difference between the US stock market and other trading hours. They are all closed from Monday to Friday, Saturday and Sunday!

Philip Caldwell said to Ford II, "Bo, why don't you use this weekend to meet Chu Huan?"

"Why do you want to take the initiative to see him?" Before Philip Caldwell could finish speaking, William Ford interrupted Philip Caldwell again.

"Now this Chu Huan dares to acquire the shares of our Ford Motor Company. If we take the initiative to see him now, what will the outside world say about our Ford family? They will think that we are afraid of Chu Huan!

When it comes to controlling Ford vehicles, our Ford family has never been afraid of anyone!"

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! He was interrupted twice by William Ford, and Philip Caldwell also had an unhappy expression on his face, and he preached a little coldly.

"Mr. Ford, do you think it's still before 1974?"

In order to ensure that the Ford family has permanent control over Ford Motors and to avoid tax issues and other issues, Henry Ford founded the Ford Foundation in 1936 and injected Class B shares into the foundation. Class B shares were jointly held by family members.

When the Ford Foundation was established, it had only $250,000 in capital. However, as Henry and Ethel passed away one after another, most of their Ford shares were injected into the foundation, and the foundation grew bigger and bigger.

Before Ford Motor Company went public, 88% of the shares were held by the foundation, 2% of the shares were controlled by the company's directors, management, and employees, and the remaining 10% were left to the Ford family. However, it is precisely because these 10% of shares plus

The Class B shares held by the Ford family have absolute decision-making power over Ford Motor Company.

However, in the early 1990s, North American legislation stipulated that family foundations could not hold too concentrated shares.

After Ford went public, the Ford Foundation sold Ford's shares one after another, and by 1974 almost all of them were sold out.

The Ford Foundation not only sold off their Ford stock, but also sold off all 10 Ford cars owned by the Ford family due to the multiple financings of Ford's IPO and family reasons.

In other words, today, the Ford family only holds Class B shares that hold 40% of the voting rights of Ford Motors, and 2 shares of Ford Motors held by management that Ford Motors believes is completely under their control.

But no matter what, the 40% voting power always gives the Ford family what outsiders look like absolute control over Ford Motor Company.

"What do you mean?" William Ford snorted coldly and said, "Even if it is not 74 years later, no one can challenge our Ford family's dominance of Ford Motors!"

Philip Caldwell did not speak, but simply glanced at William Ford. The meaning in his eyes was actually very clear. If everything was as you said, I would not be sitting in your seat and become a Ford.

The general manager.

William Ford read Philip Caldwell's eyes and stood up angrily to argue with him.

"alright!"

Ford II spoke out at this time, stopping the overt and covert fight between the two of them, and said calmly, "Before the matter was made public, I went to meet that rising star in the business world, and it was nothing. But now that the matter has been made public, I

Then we can no longer take the initiative to see him. This is not only the face of Ford Motor Company, but also the face of our Ford family!"

Facing Ford II's final decision, William Ford looked proud, but Philip Caldwell shook his head helplessly.

Although Philip Caldwell succeeded William Ford and became the general manager of Ford Motor Company, Philip Caldwell's relationship with the Ford family is very delicate.

We can get a glimpse of this just from the fact that he succeeded William Ford as general manager of Ford Motor Company.

William Ford was ousted from the position of general manager, which can be said to be a collective victory for other shareholders of Ford Motor except the Ford family. Philip Caldwell, the successor, was a helpless choice after the game between the Ford family and other shareholders of Ford Motor.

.

In fact, it is most common for a family-owned company like Ford Motor Company to have disagreements with the company's professional management team.

Now Philip Caldwell heard that Ford II put the Ford family's face on Ford cars, which he could not accept.

"Bo, now that Chu Huan has become a major shareholder of Ford Motor Company, I believe he will convene the company's board of directors soon to discuss the re-election of board members. If we don't make preparations as soon as possible, I'm worried that this person will really

It will have an immeasurable impact on the company.”

Philip Caldwell still hopes to make the company run more normally!

William Ford spoke on behalf of his brother, "So, you are saying that you want us to terminate our cooperation with South Korea's Hyundai Motor?"

Everyone understands that Chu Huan's real purpose of acquiring Ford Motor's shares is not Ford Motor, but Hyundai Motor, which has in-depth cooperation with Ford Motor.

"If we, Ford Motor, decide to end cooperation with the company's partner Hyundai Motor because of Chu Huan's acquisition of the company's stock, then what will the entire North American business community think of our Ford Motor Company? They will think that we are afraid of Chu Huan, dignified

Ford Motor Company of North America is actually afraid of a businessman from Xiangjiang. Do you think such a reputation will be what our Ford Motor Company needs by then?"

Philip Caldwell shook his head and said, "We don't necessarily have to give up cooperation with Hyundai Motor. I have also inquired about the grievances between Chu Huan and Hyundai Group. It is just caused by some minor conflicts. Both parties are successful businessmen.

There is nothing that cannot be resolved through negotiation.

As long as we can mediate and resolve the grievances between the two parties, then the matter will be very beneficial to us at Ford Motor Company."

Ford II stopped William Ford from continuing to speak with his eyes, looked at Philip Caldwell and asked, "Tell me your thoughts in detail!"

When Philip Caldwell saw Ford II's inquiry, he immediately smiled and said, "Recently I have been researching Chu Huan's situation in Xiangjiang, but the more I research, the more I discover that Chu Huan is in Xiangjiang, Southeast Asia, etc."

The land has an extraordinary influence.

When we cooperated with Hyundai Motor before, we took a fancy to Hyundai Motor's advantage in Asia and hoped that we could use Hyundai Motor to open up the market for Ford Motor in Asia.

But facts have proven that although Hyundai Motor is located in Asia, its influence in South Korea is really limited. The entire Asian car market is still dominated by Japanese cars.

And Hyundai Motor's influence is limited to South Korea.
To be continued...