Ford Motor Co. is an auto company running on empty and looking for an exit ramp.
Everyday it seems there's news that Ford is doing something to turn itself around. One day there's news that Ford is dangling its Jaguar unit to interested parties, entering joint ventures with other companies and paring down costs through layoffs and plant closings. Now the Dearborn, Mich.-based company is looking into the possibility of going private, according to USA Today.
That strategy may be a good one for Ford. The company would no longer have to answer to the myriad of stockholders -- which include 600 banks -- about its troubles. Nor, with its downward, languishing stock would it have to worry about being delisted. Right now, Ford is hobbling around the high $7 range. USA Today estimates it would cost Ford as little as $13.3 billion to go private. That's a price the sickly auto icon should pay so it can have the time to evaluate what road it should take to build a healthier future. Maybe the auto giant just got too big to please all its stockholders. We all know it lost its innovation and forgot selling cars was about making products that actually work for the American public. Now, Ford has too many problems and too many people to answer to. Maybe the only way out is if it only has to answer to itself. — Gerald Magpily
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