ferdinandpiech - Jalopnik

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Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Wiedeking: Porsche CEO Steps Down
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Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet
07/23/09

In reply to Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Wiedeking: Porsche CEO Steps Down
Alright, dragon 951, so how does the deal work with VW buying Porsche's auto making operation, but the Porsche holding company maintains its stake in VW, and Qatar buys into Porsche operations? I know the pea has to be under one of those shells.
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dragon951
07/23/09

@Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet: I did not explain properly. Porsche SE is the holding company, it's two primary assets being Porsche AG and their VAG (VW) stake. Porsche owns 51% of VAG stock, plus stock options to get almost a 75% total stake. Porsche SE (the whole thing) is merging with VAG. To take care of Porsche SE's debt, it is selling its VAG stock options (at least some of them) to Qatar, totalling 17% of VAG. 17% of VAG is easily worth 10 billion. At this point the merger is fairly square, as Porsche SE brings its company plus the 51% of VAG stock that I am sure it wants back. VAG brings itself to the table. Yeah, I am not sure how the internal stuff is going to work out, but that's what the rest of the merger meetings are for.

Also, how come your reply ended up here? Weird...
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Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet promoted this comment Edited by dragon951 at 07/23/09 10:08 PM dragon951 was starred dragon951 was unstarred

dragon951
07/23/09

@dragon951: Story:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ahMS5B9D8Rak
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Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet promoted this comment dragon951 was starred dragon951 was unstarred

Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet
07/24/09

@dragon951: I didn't reply directly, as your initial comment was way down the thread, and unpromoted.

Thanks for the clarification.

I'm not sure why Porsche thought it needed all the VW shares. It can run the board with 51%, and Westphalia isn't about to sell its' shares so VW can be privatised. so Porsche could work the market can sell down shares that aren't required, get liquid, and keep the Qatari investors out of its boardroom.
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dragon951
07/24/09

@Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet: Porsche was out of time, their .9billion loan from VW a while back was to make the payments on those 10 billion euro loans, and payment was due again soon (which is why Qatar will be sending a check for 750 million in the mail). They needed to unload something fast, so they chose the stock options rather than their actual VW stock, and found a buyer who could actually buy it all (+ give them a bank payment). Note that they are selling the options at a sizable loss, which I imagine is Piech's version of punishment for Porsche SE after trying to take over the world (or at least VW). I reiterate, damn greedy grand kid (Wolfgang Porsche)!

Also, Piech owns a large chunk of Porsche SE, so he could still stop the Porsche SE board from running his company by force.
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Edited by dragon951 at 07/24/09 2:52 PM dragon951 was starred dragon951 was unstarred

wrx-tyrannosaurusWrx
07/23/09

In reply to Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Wiedeking: Porsche CEO Steps Down
I love that kid.
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Gearhead's Garage
07/23/09

In reply to Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Wiedeking: Porsche CEO Steps Down
You just knew that, eventually, Piëch was going to win.
NEVER bet against the family.
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Tomsk 1.1 promoted this comment Gearhead's Garage was starred

Six Flags Over Tomsk
07/23/09

@Gearhead's Garage: "Today I settled all Family business, so don't tell me you're innocent, Wendy."
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junkman
07/23/09

In reply to Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Wiedeking: Porsche CEO Steps Down
News flash! The Panamera has just been rebadged as the new Phaeton! Sales projections have been revised even further downward.
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junkman was starred junkman was unstarred

DoctorNine
07/23/09

In reply to Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Wiedeking: Porsche CEO Steps Down
It actually makes more sense for VW to acquire Porsche than the other way around. I think both the Piëch and Porsche families realized this, despite the optimism of certain members of Porsche management. I am also encouraged by the interest of Qatar in purchasing a large stake in the enterprise. This is perhaps one of the best buys in 'blue chip' investments I've heard about recently. Inevitably, there will be those who are upset by Wiedeking's departure, but going with a new vision is probably appropriate at this point. I see nothing but good coming of this.
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DoctorNine was starred DoctorNine was unstarred

that ain't the way to have fun, son
07/23/09

In reply to Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Wiedeking: Porsche CEO Steps Down
I wonder if this was precipitated by VW's promise to provide the CEO with an '86 Fox as his company car...
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ThreeLitre
07/23/09

In reply to Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Wiedeking: Porsche CEO Steps Down
That board room looks like Dr. Evil's secret volcano lair.

I can imagine Wiedeking saying something controversial, then realizing that it's basically over, and part of me wants to believe he then said: "Nothing, huh? Not even a titter? Tough sub."

And then got up and promptly called BMW.
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ThreeLitre was starred ThreeLitre was unstarred

Feds
07/23/09

In reply to Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Wiedeking: Porsche CEO Steps Down

[sits down, waits for Concept R to be rebadged and launched as entry level Porsche]
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Feds was starred Feds was unstarred

Feds
07/23/09

@Feds:

[dusts off Porsche+Audi golf shirt and ball cap]
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Ash78 promoted this comment Feds was starred Feds was unstarred

Das ASHloch (achtundsiebzig)
07/23/09

@Feds: The 914 is back!
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DoctorNine
07/23/09

@Ash78: "..The 914 is back!.."

This is the best news of all.
Let's hope it's true.
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DoctorNine was starred DoctorNine was unstarred

FTGDWolverineEdition'09
07/23/09

In reply to Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Wiedeking: Porsche CEO Steps Down
Is it me or do Ze German CEOs/Managers look/dress intentionally funny? The glasses the bow ties, the mustaches...I am not joking either. Almost every one of the higher management people who are from Germany always seem to crack me up. No offense intended of course. Dunno why?..
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Feds
07/23/09

@Formerlythegreatestdriver:

Allusion to Hitler. Employees work a LOT harder when they secretly fear that you may annex their house at a moments notice.

Too soon?
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acarr260 promoted this comment Feds was starred Feds was unstarred

acarr260
07/23/09

@Feds: Wir brauchen lebensraum!
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acarr260 was starred acarr260 was unstarred

Feds
07/23/09

@acarr260:

An aside: I still type in "altavista.babelfish.com" whenever I want to translate something.
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Feds was starred Feds was unstarred

OldeEnglishD
07/23/09

In reply to Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Wiedeking: Porsche CEO Steps Down
Nissan has announced that their CEO Carlos Ghosn will step down and he will receive a $73 million golden parachute and COO Toshiuki Shiga will leave as well and receive a $23 million dollar parachute.

Nissan then reported that Porsche is their bitch in all ways...
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OldeEnglishD was starred OldeEnglishD was unstarred

They're taking the hobbits to Izenguard!
07/23/09

In reply to Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Wiedeking: Porsche CEO Steps Down
And this was the same company that bought a 50% stake in VW? Evidently Porsche made a ton of money by hedging against VW initially and then using that to buy 50% of it. Talk about the irony...

Edit..just watched that video- that kid is annoying as hell. I don't think he really grasped the concept of 'survival' there.
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acarr260 promoted this comment Edited by They're taking the hobbits to Izenguard! at 07/23/09 10:42 AM

acarr260
07/23/09

@They're taking the hobbits to Izenguard!: Porsche attempted a takeover, then had to borrow $10b from VW to stay afloat, IIRC. The merger is predicated on Porsche becoming more financially stable in the short term through a stake sale or reinvestment by the primary owners.
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acarr260 was starred acarr260 was unstarred

dragon951
07/23/09

@acarr260: Porsche is not in $10b debt to VW, but rather to several banks and the German govt. They didn't need the money to stay afloat, as they own 51% of VAG. The problem halting the merger, is that essentially VAG would be acquiring 51% of their own stock, meaning they would have to turn around and sell it to pay back the banks. The currently established deal is to sell 17% of VAG to Qatar in order to pay off those loans, but VAG/Porsche would still be recovering 34% of its own stock regaining its own majority shareholding (Saxony would be #2 with 20% and Qatar #3 with its 17%). If Porsche had not wanted to merge with VAG, then they only had to sell some of their VAG stock (probably at a lower price, but still to Qatar) to pay off the loans and then some.

Porsche already had a large amount of surplus capital when they started buying VAG, just not enough to buy 75% of a company roughly ten times it's size. It was a hugely ballsy hostile takeover attempt, 80's style, that backfired when VAG pointed out that they didn't have to do anything, but Porsche sure had to pay those loans quickish. Damn greedy grand kids (well, grand kid: Wolfgang)!

Still, it's hard to stay mad at Wiedeking. Even though he did betray Porsche's ideals, he was doing it in the best interest of the company (except for the VAG takeover thing, that was just blind ambition). He did turn a company in trouble around and make it hugely profitable. And he gave half of his 50 million euro parachute back to the workers. I can't think of many other CEOs who would have hundreds of his employees show up in the pouring rain to wish him a tearful goodbye.
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Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet promoted this comment dragon951 was starred dragon951 was unstarred

Das ASHloch (achtundsiebzig)
07/23/09

In reply to Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Wiedeking: Porsche CEO Steps Down
Porsche’s new CEO will be Michael Macht

Machts Arbeit Macht Frei?
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Flathead Smith
07/23/09

@Ash78:Machts arbeitet nur für einen sich hin- und herbewegenden goldenen Fallschirm.
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ThreeLitre promoted this comment Flathead Smith was starred Flathead Smith was unstarred

Novaload
07/23/09

@Ash78: Hmmm....you actually pulled off an Auschwitz joke.
But there's no such thing as a free Porsche.
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Novaload was starred Novaload was unstarred

LuciferV8
03/13/09

In reply to Porsche 917: Happy Birthday, Turbopanzer!
One of the best things to come out of the 60's. The 917.
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LuciferV8 was starred LuciferV8 was unstarred

Novaload
03/13/09

In reply to Porsche 917: Happy Birthday, Turbopanzer!
This little piggy went to racing, this little piggy wrapped around the go-pedal on a 917, and the rest of the little piggies hung on in fear and atavistic prehensile style like an orangutan's foot on a branch.

What a beast!
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Novaload was starred Novaload was unstarred

Plecostomus [Tyrrell]
03/12/09

In reply to Porsche 917: Happy Birthday, Turbopanzer!
I vote for Peter Orsoz for having quality writing skills.

I like the new guy.
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