Since Henry Clay Ford Jr. became CEO of Ford (NYSE: F) in 2001, billions of dollars in shareholder value have evaporated in the face of huge losses.

To his, and the compensation committee's credit, Mr. Ford agreed on May 11th of 2005, to "forego any new compensation (including salary, bonus, or other awards) until such time as the Committee and Mr. Ford determine that the Company's Automotive sector has achieved sustainable profitability."

Ford then lost $12 billion in 2006 alone, and then another $2.6 billion in 2007. Now, the company is backtracking on its decision not to pay Mr. Ford until the company had achieved "sustainable profitability." According to a new agreement between the two parties filed as an exhibit to the latest 10-K, the company has "now agreed that Mr. Ford would continue to forego new compensation (including salary, bonus or other awards) until such time as the Committee determines that the Company's global Automotive sector has achieved full-year profitability, excluding special items. It was further agreed that the compensation Mr. Ford would have received begining in 2008 and future years but for the agreement to forego new compensation will be earned and paid when the Committee determines that the Company's global Automotive sector has achieved full-year profitability, excluding special items."

This post is written as part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst 2006. If this post convinces you that Ford can make a comeback, cast your vote.

Recently I wrote a blog post about some of the nice things Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is doing. It was just an overview and the article was cursory at best. A member of our excellent editing staff suggested that I might have readers who want a bit more explanation of just what has happened with Ford's stock market value over the last year. I think that for an even better perspective, I'll need to take you back ... way, way back....

Ford Motor Company's stock value entered this decade at $29.30 (the actual per share value was $53.51 but there's a split adjustment factored in). By the end of 2000 Ford stock had slipped to $23.44. One year later the shares had deflated to $15.95 and by the end of 2002 investors were viewing in amazement a stock value of just $9.58. In 2003 Ford took an upswing and shares ended that year at $16.18. But 2004 ended at $14.80, 2005 nearly halved that value to $7.90, and 2006 is shaping up to finish with Ford Motor Company shares close to today's ending price of $8.13. Two factors that must be considered when viewing this historical trend are: In 2000 Ford's daily share trading volume was in the range of 3,300,000, whereas yesterday's trading volume for Ford was over ten times that much at 30,530,400 shares. How do total share availability and volume traded affect the overall price? I'll honestly tell you, that information is just plain "over my head."