But you would prefer Ford over working at Apple or Google's auto groups? Or Tesla?

Good question... I guess I don't really care as long as the projects I get to work on are interesting and I actually get to work rather than dealing with bureaucracy. I like when big companies essentially create internal startups which are independently managed.

Subsidiaries are better than the mothership, but it's very hard for subsidiaries to get things done. (Lots of great ideas at Xerox/PARC, but they struggled to bring any to market) The Ford subsidiaries are forbidden from selling outside of Ford. That limits the customer base. Meanwhile, there won't be much in the way of equity, so hiring/retaining will be tough.

The overwhelming majority of businesses do not give their employees any equity. I think that will be the least of their problems.

Fair points, but as someone who is about -$25,000 in the last 9 years on ISOs/equity at startups, equity isn't something I'm really looking for or caring about unless I'm joining a very early stage company.

Would you really take the Ford bureaucracy over Google auto's? I can understand taking Ford for work-life balance, but I haven't heard anyone claim that's a reason to work there.

If people have true success stories of corporate outposts out here, please share. I'm happy to be proven wrong.