The biggest news out of the auto industry this week was the firing of Ford Motor CEO Mark Fields. The Board apparently couldn’t stomach what must have been a steady drumbeat of dissatisfaction from shareholders as Ford’s share price has slid 40 percent since 2014 under Fields’ stewardship.
Ford also has the reputation as being a slow mover into car sharing and electric and autonomous vehicles. I find that sad. Ford was an earlier adopter of the connected car movement. Whether deserved or not, however, it has been seen as slow to jump into the sea (to use a phrase popular in China) of car sharing and electric and autonomous vehicles.
Ironically, a failure to communicate moves in that direction may be as much to blame as actual foot-dragging. But Fields did not clearly communicate his strategy and, as The Presidio Group’s James Taylor told me, “The life of a CEO is a perpetual roadshow.” Fields may not have understood that part of the job description. Regardless, the value of a Ford dealership won’t be impacted by Fields’ departure, as I write about in this week’s issue.
Also this week, buy sell agreements are full of deadlines by which specific items must be investigated and agreed to. For example, a buyer must agree to accept a property’s condition by a certain deadline. That implies that a buyer must complete an environmental assessment by that deadline (or before) as well. Failure to do so could result in the buyer getting stuck with some expensive cleanup. In this week’s issue, The Scali Law Firm looks at some of those deadlines and the consequences of not meeting them.
We also have Transaction News.
Enjoy!
