Porsche announced the resignation of its chief exec Wendelin Wiedeking 'with immediate effect' this morning, as the sports car company and Volkswagen move closer to a happy union.
Wiedeking - a parting gesture?
Wiedeking gets the chop along with his financial director Holger Haerter, who together cooked up the failed plan for Porsche to take over Volkswagen and which has left the otherwise bouyant sportscar maker sinking under billions of Euros of debt. VW's supervisory board is expected to meet later today to sanction the intergration of Porsche into the VW group - where it will become one of 10 brands under the VW banner.
In spite of reports yesterday that Wiedeking was angling for a €100m pay-off, it turns out that his golden parachute is only worth €50m, half of which will apparently go to a social foundation. Wiedeking's successor will be Micheal Macht, who is currently production chief at Porsche.
Porsche - just another Volkswagen...
Yesterday the Porsche board approved ongoing talks with the Gulf state of Qatar over a a proposed capital injection to help pay off its estimated €10bn debt. They then issued a statement saying the two axed directors had come to the conclusion that 'the further strategic development of Porsche is better off if they are not on board', and that their leaving was 'a significant contribution to the appeasement of the situation and to support the forming of an integrated car manufacturing company with Volkswagen'.
In his own personal statement, Wiedeking announced plans to put some of his bonanza into a foundation aimed at the development of 'socially just' factories for Porsche, in cahoots with the Porsche works council. Around €1.5m is also going to foundations that help journalists in need - yes, really!
Hmm... Wonder if that includes journalists who reallyneed a new 911...