Ford

Ford Motor Company announced today that $6 billion in cash

will be distributed to its shareholders through the company's Value Enhancement

Plan (VEP). The total number of new Ford common and Class B shares outstanding

will be 1.9 billion.

Under the VEP, Ford shareholders exchanged each of their current Ford

common or Class B shares for a new Ford common or Class B share, as the case

may be, plus either $20 in cash (Option 1), 0.748 additional new Ford common

shares (Option 2), or a combination of $5.18 and 0.555 additional new Ford

common shares (Option 3).

Ford shareholders approved the VEP Aug. 2. The company plans to credit

the new Ford stock to shareholder accounts and distribute cash beginning

tomorrow. The new Ford Motor Company stock has been approved for

listing and will be available for regular way trading beginning Aug. 9 on the

New York Stock Exchange.

NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Ford Motor Co. said Thursday it is buying back up to $5 billion of company stock, settling fears by some analysts and investors that its recent tire woes would delay the anticipated repurchase.

"Today's action goes beyond what we announced in April," said a statement Henry Wallace, Ford group vice president and chief financial officer. The automaker said at that time that it would return $10 billion to shareholders through an unusual "Value Enhancement Plan" that gave them the opportunity to liquidate part of their stock's value with cash, as well as a more traditional share repurchase. The value enhancement plan returned $5.7 billion to shareholders, Wallace said, so Thursday's announcement topped the previous buyback plans by $700 million.

Wallace also said in an interview with Reuters that consensus estimate for third-quarter earnings is "in the ballpark," confirming it would not top year earlier results for the period.

The current forecast of analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call calls for the company to earn 52 cents a share in the...