American automobile manufacturer, Ford Motor Co. has said it will pay an additional $200 million to shareholders beyond its regular first-quarter dividend.
The company said it will pay its regular dividend of 15 cents a share, plus the cash, bringing the total to 20 cents a share.
The automaker had previously said the rate would be in the high 20 percent range, automotive news reports.
“We are pleased to, once again, reward our shareholders with a regular and supplemental dividend,” Ford CEO Mark Fields said in the statement ahead of a presentation to analysts at the Deutsche Bank Global Auto Industry Conference in Detroit.
Ford is undergoing an expensive effort to transform into a mobility company that can take on upstarts such as Uber Technologies Inc. The race is on to put robot cars on the road. Tesla Motors Inc., BMW, Ford and Volvo Cars have all promised to produce fully autonomous cars within five years.
Alphabet Inc. just spun off its Google Self-Driving Car Project, renaming it Waymo, and then promptly unveiled its driverless Chrysler Pacifica minivan and said it’s in discussions to put its technology into Honda Motor Co. models.
For Ford, the cost of converting its business model is causing profits to fall. The carmaker has promised to put 100,000 robot taxis — without steering wheel, gas or brake pedals — into ride-hailing or ride sharing fleets by 2021.
It’s also investing $4.5 billion to convert 40 percent of its lineup to electrified vehicles by 2020 and this week revealed seven of those models.
