Ford Motor Co. (F) is offering its hourly workforce of 75,000 packages that offer incentives to leave the company as part of the slashing of costs in their recent restructuring plans. They also are cutting one-third of their white-collar jobs and selling or shutting down their parts-making plants-all in all slashing $5 billion in costs.
Ford's stock has plunged since the announcement this morning and analysts have grown cautious about future performance of the company, the country's No. 2 automaker.
Merril Lynch & Co. Inc. (MER) changed its recommendation on Ford shares according to this WashingtonPost.com article, which until today had gained 18 percent this year, after a 48 percent decline in 2005 -- to "sell" from "neutral," the Associated Press reported. Stock values fell for other U.S. auto makers as well. Ford officials said the changes they are announcing will allow the company's North American operations to become profitable again in 2009. In the meantime, however, the board of directors plans to suspend payment of quarterly dividends on its common and Class B stock beginning in the fourth quarter of this year. The company reported losses of $1.44 billion in the first half of this year.
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