Currently the Ford Motor Co. is the only U.S. automaker operating without the benefit of federal bailout money, but the company's cash on hand has now dropped below $15 billion.
Confusion about the carmaker's financial health ensued, however, after CEO Alan Mulally spoke to Fox Business Network from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Thursday, January 8.
Mulally indicated the company had $15 billion, but later corrected himself. A company spokesman, Mark Truby, indicated the fourth quarter numbers had not yet been finalized, "However, our cash position will be lower than $15 billion. It would be premature to say anything more."
Mulally's statement had offered optimism that Ford was getting control of its cash burn, a fact Truby still said was valid when compared to third quarter numbers when Ford was left with $18.9 billion and a monthly expenditure of roughly $2.57 billion.
If the company indeed had $15 million, the burn rate would have been slowed to approximately $1.3 billion. On January 9, the company is setting its monthly outlays between $1.3 billion and $2.57 billion for the fourth quarter.
During his interview with Fox, Mulally said, "We're very conscious of cash. And we focus all of our investments, we focus all of our daily operations, we're working very closely with our suppliers and our payables, and we are managing that cash -- because cash right now is so important to finance this transformation."
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