Ford Replaces CEO

Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Hackett announced he’ll be stepping down from his position after over three years at the helm of the storied auto maker. With a focus on grand restructuring to help turn the company around in 2017, Hackett’s leadership never translated into large increases in revenue. While COVID-19 certainly didn’t help, Ford’s market valuation has steadily fallen over the last three years despite Hackett’s modern strategies.

Since 2017, Ford has seen their market cap go down almost consistently every six months. When Hackett assumed leadership in June 2017, the market cap of Ford was roughly $45 billion. After briefly eclipsing $50 billion in early 2018, value dropped considerably, and after the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world, Ford’s market cap sits at around $27 billion as of August 2020.

Hackett pushed Ford to invest heavily in electric vehicles and restructuring efforts involving partnerships with other top auto makers. While investments in electric car makers like Rivian and partnerships with Volkswagen did show promise for the company, they never pushed the company’s value over U.S. competition like GM or into the realm of global car maker Toyota.

Hackett will stay with the company through October to help with the transition of new CEO Jim Farley. Having been with the company for over a decade, Farley may look to continue Ford's push toward electric vehicles and other promising technologies to better compete with Tesla, Toyota, and even tech companies like Amazon and Apple.