Ford Motor Company shareholders voted today to reject a proposal which would change the Ford family’s own voting power with the automaker.
Automotive News reports that the measure – now a perennial proposal at shareholders meetings – received about the same level of support this year as it did last, being rejected by 63.1 percent. The Ford family maintains forty percent voting control over the company, owing to its ownership of special “Class B” stock which grants them additional voting power. There are approximately 71 million Class B shares in total – less than 2 percent of all outstanding shares of “common” stock.
Apart from the Ford family’s strong presence in voting matters, plenty of the family’s members number among the automaker’s executive leadership. Henry Ford’s great-grandson Edsel II is on the board of directors; his great-granddaughter Elena Ford serves as Vice President of Global Dealer and Consumer Experience; and of course, Bill Ford – another great-grandson of the company’s founder – is the automaker’s Executive Chairman.
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