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On top of all this, the Department of Justice is looking into Securities and Exchange Commission charges that Ford Motor paid a $1 million bribe to an Indonesian general to get a contract to build a $29 million satellite communications ground network in his country. What is clear so far is that some Ford people did agree to make the bribe but, according to company lawyers, the offer was withdrawn. The key question is whether Henry Ford knew anything about the bribery plan.
Benson's suit is another nettle in the chairman's side. Benson, or Ben as he is called, has lived in California since 1969 and has devoted himself to racing cars and running an auto parts business. In January he was arrested in San Francisco on charges of possessing 9.5 gm of hashish and less than two grams of cocaine. Ben owns and controls about 2% of the company's Class B voting stock, worth some $12 million (Henry Ford has 8.6%, worth more than $50 million). The B shares are entirely controlled by the Ford family and permanently account for 40% of the total stockholder vote. When Ben reaches 30 in October, he will come into another 2% or so of the stock.
He is suing to reopen the will of his father, Benson Sr., who was Henry's brother. Benson Sr. died last July, leaving his son yet another 1% of the B stock. What bothers Ben is that control of the stock, along with some other money, will be given to a trusteeship. Ben's mother is the sole trustee, but she is obligated to name another trustee—and not Benson—before she dies. If she does not, the trusteeship would go first to Henry Ford and, after him, to another uncle, William Clay Ford. Benson also wants the seat that his father occupied on the Ford board and would eventually like to be considered for the chairmanship. That runs counter to Henry's plans. Since he suffered an angina attack three years ago, the chairman has been concentrating on setting up a succession of his own choosing. Henry would prefer that his only son, Edsel, eventually take over as chief executive.
These distractions at the top come at a sensitive time for the company. Like all automakers, Ford is facing challenges. It will need as much singleminded managerial skill as it can muster to meet proliferating federal regulations and increased competition at home and abroad. It could well be that such considerations were weighing on Henry Ford's mind when he decided to get out of the way and step down before January, a year ahead of his original schedule.