Piech Agrees to Sell Most of His Porsche SE Stake

Former Volkswagen Group Chairman Ferdinand Piech has agreed to sell “a major part” of the 14.7% stake he owns in the holding company that controls VW.

Piech molded VW over 30 years from a regional player to a global powerhouse that, in 2016, became the world’s largest carmaker as measured by unit sales. But his autocratic style also created a corporate culture of fear that critics say hobbled the company with inefficiencies and an insular bureaucracy that led to the company’s multi-billion-euro diesel emission cheating scandal.

Piech was pushed out of VW in April 2015 after a power struggle triggered by the diesel crisis. He will sell the undisclosed stake to other members of the Piech and Porsche families that control Porsche Automobil Holdings SE, which he formerly chaired and which owns 52% of VW’s voting shares.

Piech will remain on the Porsche SE board until the sale is completed. Thereafter his Ferdinand Karl Beta private foundation will retain a minor stake in the holding company.