How the Ford Family Kept Control for 120 Years

The Ford family has controlled the company Henry Ford founded in 1903 for over a century, despite holding only a small percentage of total equity. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down the specific governance structure Ford Motor Company uses—the Class B stock system—that gives the family 40 percent voting power with just 2 percent of the equity. They trace the origins of this dual-class structure back to the 1956 IPO, when the family needed to raise capital but refused to give up control. They walk through the near-disaster of the 1990s when the family briefly lost control to outside investors, the painful return of Bill Ford as CEO in 2001, and the lessons for any family business thinking about how to balance growth with legacy. This is a story about one family's stubborn insistence on staying in charge. #FordFamily #DualClassStock #FordMotorCompany #HenryFord #BillFord #CorporateGovernance #VotingControl #FamilyBusiness #BusinessHistory #Detroit #AutomotiveIndustry #FoundersControl #IPO #ClassBStock #Succession #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #FamilyBusinessStories Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo