Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

Tuesday 23 May 2017 BUSINESS
A24

Ford taps former office furniture executive to be new CEO

DEE-ANN DURBIN er,” Ford said. “He’s not just ture what people will want
TOM KRISHER a futurist. He’s a very good next.”
AP Auto Writers operational leader.” Hackett and
DEARBORN, Michigan (AP) Erik Gordon, a law and busi- Bill Ford praised Fields, who
— The job of Ford’s new ness professor at the Univer- was one of the architects of
CEO won’t be easy: He sity of Michigan, questions the company’s turnaround
will have to shore up the whether Hackett’s past ex- a decade ago. More re-
114-year-old company’s perience will be enough to cently he led Ford to a
traditional auto business, steer Ford through a vola- string of strong earnings,
but also invest in self-driv- tile global auto market. including a record pretax
ing cars and other projects Steelcase earned $3 billion profit of $10.8 billion in 2015.
that could one day make in revenue in its latest fiscal Bill Ford insisted Fields was
that business obsolete. year. Ford earned $152 bil- not fired. Hackett said the
Ford thinks Jim Hackett is lion. two have plans to go to a
up to the task. The 62-year- “I think he’s going to have Michigan football game.
old former chief executive to prove himself,” Gordon Fields resurrect-
of office furniture maker said. “The fact that he was ed Ford’s luxury Lincoln
Steelcase was named to This undated photo provided by Ford Motor Co. shows Jim probably the most success- brand and grew sales in
the post Monday, just three Hackett, chairman of Ford Smart Mobility LLC, a subsidiary of ful CEO in the office furni- China. His bet on using alu-
days after former CEO Mark Ford Motor Co. ture business doesn’t mean minum for Ford trucks paid
Fields told the company he Associated Press he is automatically going off in better fuel economy
wanted to retire. Fields, who was a product transforming the company, to be a successful CEO in and strong sales. Fields
Ford Executive Chairman of Ford’s bureaucratic cul- in part, by predicting the an industry that requires opened a Silicon Val-
Bill Ford, the great-grand- ture and had 20 people re- shift away from cubicles technical knowledge.” ley office to hire talented
son of company founder porting to him. and into open office plans. But Scott Cook, the found- young researchers and
Henry Ford, said Hack- “The biggest challenge I In the process, he cut thou- er and executive chairman scout promising startups.
ett is a visionary who can had (at Steelcase), and I sands of jobs and moved of Intuit who has known Last week, he announced
help Ford modernize and will have here, is to have furniture production from Hackett for a decade, said that Ford would cut 1,400
become more nimble. He everybody see the future. the U.S. to Mexico. Hackett’s skills transfer to white-collar jobs in the U.S.
served on Ford’s board from They can see their opportu- Hackett also served as the any industry. The car in- and Asia by September to
2013 to 2016 and became nity in that. And secondly, interim athletic director at dustry needs that kind of trim costs.
the head of Ford’s mobility that it’s our right to win, and the University of Michigan thinking as it moves toward But investors worried
unit in March of last year. we don’t have to cede from 2014 to 2016. In that a world in which self-driving about Ford’s sliding U.S.
Hackett said Ford does that to anybody, Tesla or role, he lured star football shuttles could replace per- market share and product
many things well but has any of them,” Hackett said coach Jim Harbaugh and sonal automobiles. decisions. While Fields was
trouble handling com- Monday during a news negotiated a $174 million “Lots of people can man- focused on a new perfor-
plex strategy questions. He conference at Ford’s world deal with Nike. Bill Ford said ufacture well, but manu- mance division and the
plans to assemble a small headquarters. “I love that those two jobs showed facturing the same old $450,000 GT supercar, im-
executive team that can challenge because I know Hackett can be successful products will get you the portant bread-and-butter
communicate plans clearly how to do that.” in different environments. same old results,” Cook products like the Fusion se-
and make decisions quick- Hackett led Steelcase for “He’s really a proven said. “You hire a Jim if you dan and Escape SUV grew
ly. That’s a contrast with 20 years. He is credited with transformational think- want to learn to manufac- dated.q

Clariant, Huntsman, latest chemical

makers seeking to merge

ing company would be The companies hope to in August.
named HuntsmanClariant, complete the deal by the Once merged, DuPont and
with stock exchange list- year’s end. Dow plan to break into
ings in both Zurich and New The industrial gas and three public companies,
York. chemical sector has been one focusing on agricul-
If approved, Clariant share- rife with mergers the past ture, one on material sci-
holders would own 52 per- couple of years as com- ence and one on specialty
cent of the company and panies seek to streamline products.
Huntsman shareholders operations and increase Last month, PPG Industries
would own 48 percent. profits. boosted its offer for Akzo
The new firm will have glob- In December of 2015, Nobel, looking to buy the
al headquarters in Pratteln, chemical giants DuPont industrial paints and chemi-
Hariolf Kottmann, CEO of Clariant, left, and Peter R. Huntsman, Switzerland and opera- and Dow agreed on a pro- cals company in a cash-
President and CEO of Huntsman, right, shake hands during a tional headquarters in The posed $62 billion merger, and-stock deal valued at
press conference, Monday, May 22, 2017, in Zurich, Switzerland. Woodlands, Texas, where but have postponed the about $28.8 billion.
Associated Press Huntsman is based. deal several times due to Akzo Nobel turned down a
GENEVA (AP) — Swiss spe- posed deal in a chemicals Clariant CEO Hariolf Kott- regulatory scrutiny both in previous offer of $22 billion.
cialty chemicals maker industry that is seeking to mann is to become Hunts- the U.S. and abroad. In December, Danbury,
Clariant and Texas’ Hunts- consolidate rapidly. manClariant’s board chair- When the deal was an- Connecticut-based indus-
man Corp. will attempt to The companies said Mon- man while Huntsman CEO nounced, the companies trial gas company Praxair
join and create a compa- day they plan to combine Peter Huntsman would hold expected it to close in the announced it intended
ny with a market value of in through an all-stock that position in the com- first half of 2016. They now to merge with Germany’s
$13.8 billion, the latest pro- transaction. The result- bined company. say they expect it to close Linde AG.q