Uh oh... Porsche's stock manipulating now caught???
08-22-09, 07:01 AM
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Uh oh... Porsche's stock manipulating now caught???
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=155668
Porsche's Offices Raided in Alleged Stock Manipulation Scheme
Date posted: 08-21-2009
STUTTGART, Germany — German government prosecutors raided Porsche's headquarters on Thursday, investigating allegations of stock manipulation carried out by the company under freshly departed chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking. He and recently resigned Chief Financial Officer Holder Härter are among the company officials implicated in the complex scheme that was part of Porsche's failed attempt last year to take over the much larger Volkswagen.
The complicated story involves VW stock and stock options that Porsche allegedly acquired in secret. As Forbes explained on Friday, Porsche "shocked the market last fall" when it revealed it had increased its stock and stock options in VW — enough to garner it a potential stake of 70 percent.
The revelation briefly caused VW stock prices to skyrocket, triggering a near-panic in the German market. The Forbes report characterized the move as having turned Porsche into "a hedge fund with car plants" because of the stock activity.
Wiedeking and Härter resigned last month and, in a remarkable turnabout, VW is now acquiring Porsche instead of the other way around, despite Porsche ultimately holding 51 percent of VW. Wiedeking, who had been heavily criticized for his high pay as Porsche chief, said he was planning to donate half of his severance pay of about $71 million to a journalism charity.
The BBC, in a news analysis published Thursday, said Wiedeking undoubtedly overreached in trying to carry out a VW takeover. However, it notes he was "perhaps not" completely responsible for Porsche's problems but was caught in the middle of a clash of family titans. One is Ferdinand Piëch, chairman of VW and major stakeholder in Porsche, who wanted to see VW and Porsche get together — but was strongly opposed to a Porsche takeover of VW. The other is Wolfgang Porsche, chairman of the sports-carmaker and Piëch's cousin, who wanted to see Porsche hold on to its independence. "Wiedeking is paying a heavy price for upsetting Ferdinand Piëch," the BBC comments.
As it stands now, Volkswagen will acquire 42 percent of Porsche AG and 100 percent of holding company Porsche Automobil Holding by year's end, with strong participation from the emirate of Qatar. What will happen to the former CEO and CFO will spin out in days to come.
Inside Line says: A tangled financial, legal, and familial web. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent
Date posted: 08-21-2009
STUTTGART, Germany — German government prosecutors raided Porsche's headquarters on Thursday, investigating allegations of stock manipulation carried out by the company under freshly departed chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking. He and recently resigned Chief Financial Officer Holder Härter are among the company officials implicated in the complex scheme that was part of Porsche's failed attempt last year to take over the much larger Volkswagen.
The complicated story involves VW stock and stock options that Porsche allegedly acquired in secret. As Forbes explained on Friday, Porsche "shocked the market last fall" when it revealed it had increased its stock and stock options in VW — enough to garner it a potential stake of 70 percent.
The revelation briefly caused VW stock prices to skyrocket, triggering a near-panic in the German market. The Forbes report characterized the move as having turned Porsche into "a hedge fund with car plants" because of the stock activity.
Wiedeking and Härter resigned last month and, in a remarkable turnabout, VW is now acquiring Porsche instead of the other way around, despite Porsche ultimately holding 51 percent of VW. Wiedeking, who had been heavily criticized for his high pay as Porsche chief, said he was planning to donate half of his severance pay of about $71 million to a journalism charity.
The BBC, in a news analysis published Thursday, said Wiedeking undoubtedly overreached in trying to carry out a VW takeover. However, it notes he was "perhaps not" completely responsible for Porsche's problems but was caught in the middle of a clash of family titans. One is Ferdinand Piëch, chairman of VW and major stakeholder in Porsche, who wanted to see VW and Porsche get together — but was strongly opposed to a Porsche takeover of VW. The other is Wolfgang Porsche, chairman of the sports-carmaker and Piëch's cousin, who wanted to see Porsche hold on to its independence. "Wiedeking is paying a heavy price for upsetting Ferdinand Piëch," the BBC comments.
As it stands now, Volkswagen will acquire 42 percent of Porsche AG and 100 percent of holding company Porsche Automobil Holding by year's end, with strong participation from the emirate of Qatar. What will happen to the former CEO and CFO will spin out in days to come.
Inside Line says: A tangled financial, legal, and familial web. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent
08-22-09, 08:36 AM
#2
Lexus Fanatic
I don't think that Wiedeking, even if the plan had worked, would have known how to run VW, a much larger company, in the first place. Compared to a small, traditionally independent company like Porsche, acquiring VW (and trying to run it) would have been like acquiring GM. The German government (like here in America with GM) would probably have ended up bailing them out.
08-22-09, 10:31 PM
#4
there was no law against Porsche doing a short squeeze which is what happened and netted Porsche a ton of money. Its impossible to pull off here because there are rules in place to prevent short squeezes
read about it here:
http://radian.org/notebook/porsche
read about it here:
http://radian.org/notebook/porsche
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