Say Buh Buye To Nasser, Say Hello To Another Ford At Ford…Surprise

DETROIT - Well the other shoe fell, after almost a year of rumors, denials and bullshit, Jacques Nasser was ousted as president and chief executive officer of Ford Motor Co. and will be replaced as CEO by Ford Chairman William Clay Ford Jr.

This commentator observed three months ago, "that in a family business if you ain’t family, make sure you have a golden parachute."

In an official announcement made yesterday, Ford ( the Company, not the Guy) said that Nasser, 53, will leave the company and that Brit Nick Scheele, 57 who was brought in as the heir apparent a few months ago will become CEO of Ford Motor Company. This move makes Brit Nick the highest ranking executive of British heritage ever.

It was reported that Jim Padilla, 55 who is a group vice president for manufacturing and quality, will take over Scheele's job as head of North America…In Charge Of Quality I thought that WAS Job One at Ford.

Interestingly as of 7:48 Am Tuesday, this story did not appear on the Ford web site…I guess its just not that important.

Here is a press release about the ouster from Automotive News

Automotive News reports that William Clay Ford Jr. will replace Jacques Nasser as chief executive officer of Ford Motor Co.

The company will announce on Tuesday, Oct. 30, that Nasser, 53, will leave the company, Automotive News has learned. In addition, Nick Scheele, 57, currently group vice president for North America, will become chief operating officer of Ford Motor. Jim Padilla, 55, group vice president for manufacturing and quality, will take over Scheele's job as head of North America. Scheele recently moved to North America after a brief stint as head of Ford Europe.

Scheele, an Englishman, and Padilla worked together to revive Jaguar in the 1990s.

Ford will announce additional management changes Tuesday, sources said. Carl Reichardt, 70, will be named vice chairman. Reichardt, a Ford board member since 1986, is the retired chairman and CEO of Wells Fargo & Co., San Francisco. David L. Murphy, 55, Ford vice president of human resources, will leave the company.

Bill Ford, 44, started taking more operational control of the company in July, when the board created the Office of the Chairman and CEO. He and Nasser met regularly to review company operations.

For some weeks, Ford Motor had been looking outside for a successor to Nasser, who had been under pressure for months for Ford's loss of market share and tumbling profitability. The financially troubled company is preparing a turnaround plan, which will be revealed in December.

A handful of top industry executives had been contacted about the job of CEO. Bill Ford Jr. worked for the company for several years until he resigned in 1995 to assume the chairmanship of the board of directors' finance committee. He represented the Ford family's interest on the board. He became board chairman in January 1999 when Alex Trotman retired as chairman and CEO, while Nasser, born in Lebanon and raised in Australia, was named president and CEO.

Bill Ford is known primarily for his commitment to the environment, and his pledge to make Ford Motor Co. a leader in environmental protection. Bill Ford is the son of William Clay Ford Sr., who is a grandson of company founder Henry Ford and brother of former chairman and CEO the late Henry Ford II.

The move returns the CEO's job to a Ford family member for the first time since Henry Ford II ran the company. Henry Ford II resigned as CEO in 1979. Together, William Clay Ford senior and junior also run the Detroit Lions football team.

FORBES STORY

We Think That Forbes Dan Ackerman Says It Best: HIT THE ROAD JACQUES

The Australians have an expression for what is happening to Ford Motor Chief Executive Jacques Nasser : You're fired.

Later today, Ford will announce Nasser's "resignation"--and that he is being replaced by William Clay "Bill" Ford Jr., Henry Ford's great-grandson and the company's chairman. The move comes as Ford is reeling from myriad problems: the first consecutive quarterly losses in nearly ten years, a scandal involving its popular Explorer sports utility vehicle (SUV) and Bridgestone/Firestone tires, delays in introducing new models, poor quality and a sagging credit rating.

As a result, the Australian-born Nasser, who had a 30-plus year career in Ford's international operations, will be given the gate. His replacement, Bill Ford, is as homegrown as they come. But he will be joined in the management suite by North American Group Vice President Nick Scheele, recently brought in from Ford Europe, and who will be elevated to chief operating officer.

The moves were first reported last night by Automotive News but werepredicted earlier by Forbes.

When Nasser, 53, was named CEO in 1999, Ford was on top. It was highly profitable and poised to overtake General Motors as the world's top-selling automaker. But in the most recent quarter, it lost $692 million, compared to a profit of $888 million a year earlier. Since then, it has bolstered sales but is locked with other U.S. carmakers in a price war involving zero-rate financing that may be causing it to lose money on every sale.

Some of Ford's problems are due to the general economic downturn, but not all. The tire crisis, for example is unique to Ford and Firestone. Ford blamed to whole problem on the tires made by the Japanese-owned Firestone, and in the public mind the gambit worked. Tires were recalled and the SUV they were attached to got relatively little attention.

But then Ford, based in Dearborn, Mich., followed up Firestone's initial recall of its tires with a recall of its own, which is predicted to cost between $2 billion and $3 billion. The spectacle of one company--Ford--recalling the product of another--Firestone--was unprecedented, and led Firestone to strike back, pointing out that the vast majority of SUV rollover crashes have nothing to do with tires. The upshot: Ford and Firestone severed a business relationship that went back to Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone.

Nasser put up a good public front, but there were other problems. Ford has been losing market share. Its leadership in the profitable SUV market is being challenged by European and Japanese companies. It delayed the latest model of its Ford Ranger, the nation's best-selling small pickup, slated for 2003 to 2006. Other new models were also pushed back, as the company chasedone management fad after another. In August, it announced it would cut 4,000 to 5,000 salaried positions by the end of 2001 and called the separations voluntary.

Since mid-April, Ford shares have declined from $31.35 to $16.21. GM and Daimler Chrysler are down, too, but not by as much.

Nasser, who earned more than $9 million in total compensation in 2000, ultimately lost the confidence of the Ford family, which retains voting control of the company even though it owns just 4% of the corporate stock.

Bill Ford has served as chairman of the company since 1999 and is a long-time director, but he has just a few years of experience working for the automaker on a daily basis. In July, Ford, 43, joined Nasser in an "Office of the Chairman and CEO," in what was said to be a power sharing arrangement.

Now, Ford has decided the office isn't big enough for both of them.