Saturday, August 26, 2006

Robert Rubin Resigns From Ford Board, Clearing The Way For Investment Banking Activities

Director at Ford Steps Down
By MICHELINE MAYNARD, DEARBORN, Mich., Aug. 25, New York Times

Robert E. Rubin stepped down as a director of Ford Motor, clearing the way for his investment bank to play a more significant role as Ford makes major decisions about its restructuring.
Mr. Rubin, a director and chairman of the executive committee at Citigroup, said in a letter released Friday that he wanted to avoid any potential conflicts that could be raised by his presence on Ford’s board, which he joined six years ago.
It came as Ford’s chief executive, William Clay Ford Jr., is pondering a wide variety of steps that are aimed at reversing Ford’s losses, resizing the company and enabling it to withstand brutal industry competition.
Those steps could include finding buyers for luxury brands like Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin. That task could fall to Citigroup as well as another financial adviser, Goldman Sachs, which like Citigroup has a longstanding association with Ford...read more: Here