The company’s stock market consolidates the Porsche-Piëch family’s control over the manufacturer’s destiny. Investors criticize governance defects and potential conflicts of interest.
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Once a year, in a huge Stuttgart conference room, we can attend a singular show: the general meeting (AG) of Porsche SE, the financial company which holds the majority of the actions with voting rights (53 %) of the Volkswagen car giant (VW). It is the meeting of one of the most powerful families of German capitalism: the Porsche-Piëch family, the descendants of Ferdinand Porsche (1875-1951), inventor of the ladybug and adulated engineer of Adolf Hitler. The GA is the only opportunity to see an ordinary ultradiscret clan, but whose known intrigues have nothing to envy to those of famous families with crowned heads.
On the podium, Wolfgang Porsche, almost 80 years old, Chairman of the Holder Supervisory Board, still sits in Patriarch. At his side, his cousin and rival Hans Michel Piëch, 80, also holds his place. For AG 2022, these two grandsons by Ferdinand Porsche refused to abandon their functions, despite all age limits.
In the shadow of the room, at the forefront, you have to be well informed to recognize their children, grandchildren and cousins, shareholders of Porsche SE. About 200 heirs, who often carry Ferdinand, or one of his variations, in their first name. For a decade, their decisions have influence the fate of the manufacturer to 630,000 employees and 250 billion euros in turnover.
finance the transition to electric
September 29 will be a key date in the history of the family: it is the day when the Porsche brand, which builds the racing cars of the same name, a subsidiary of the VW group, will enter the stock market. It is the largest program of actions of a German company since that of Deutsche Telekom, twenty-five years ago.
A major event for German capitalism: Porsche AG (33 billion euros in turnover in 2021, with 300,000 vehicles sold) is one of the most prosperous, most famous and profitable companies country. Its market value could reach 75 billion euros. For comparison, the current value of the parent company, VW, is 85 billion euros, for 9 million vehicles sold.
Neither the war in Ukraine, nor historical inflation, nor the expected economic recession have discouraged this project. Porsche hopes to garner 10 billion euros on the markets. The operation must provide VW valuable liquidity to finance its transition to electric. The Stuttgart manufacturer resumes his freedom and hopes to be finally listed at a fairer value. In Germany as elsewhere, the conglomerates have no longer the rating.
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