Volkswagen to Buy Porsche

In Germany, reports are surfacing about the bid Volkswagen (VW) is making to purchase Porsche. It is believed that VW offered Porsche somewhere around 8 billion Euros ($11.3 Billion). Also, there were speculations about whether or not Porsche CEO, Wendelin Wiedeking, would step down from his position. Some sources were saying Wiedeking was willing to step down from his position as CEO of Porsche if he was given a severance pay of at least 100 million Euros ($142.3 Million). Earlier this week the speculations came true with the announcement of his immediate resignation. Reportedly he left his position with a settlement of 50 million Euros ($70 Million). Wiedeking was soon after followed by Porsche's financial director, Holgar Haerter.

Officials from both Volkswagen and Porsche have stated that they would like to keep Porsche's identity intact as well as its development independent, while it's under Volkswagen's umbrella, similarly to how Audi is ran. If the deal goes through the merger is expected to be completed by the middle of 2011.



http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/vw-to-buy-porsche-for-1128-billion-report-says/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8165524.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8164295.stm