Reports emerging from Germany have the shakeup at the top of Porsche all but done

On the tail of a failed attempt to takeover Volkswagen and the ensuing embroilment of the ruling Porsche and Piech families, reports from Germany today claimed Wendelin Wiedeking, Porsche’s CEO, is being replaced with the company’s former production chief, Michael Macht, but now Porsche union chief and deputy chairman of Porsche Autmobil Holding’s supervisory board Uwe Hueck has stated that no such decision has been made.

“Wiedeking is CEO and will remain so,” said Hueck, according to an Automotive News Europe report. The announcement of Wiedeking’s replacement by several German magazines followed weeks of speculation that Wiedeking’s job was in danger, and a report earlier today of a possible €100 million buyout for the current CEO. The huge payoff hasn’t been confirmed, but it too is gaining traction thanks to the Der Spiegel report.

Such a severance/retirement package for Wiedeking would be entirely fitting with his compensation during his tenure as CEO of Porsche. He was criticized and forced to defend his high salary – the highest in the automotive industry – several times. The most recent reports pegged his yearly salary at about $89 million in 2007.

It wasn’t all failure and misery at Porsche under Wiedeking’s tenure, despite the rocky past several months. In fact, under Wiedeking’s leadership, Porsche’s pre-tax profits rose about €4 billion to €5.9 billion in 2008, and were set to climb even further until the weakened economy hamstrung his plans to takeover VW.

Nothing is yet official, however, and there are still multiple players seeking a part of Porsche, including Qatar and Volkswagen, so it’s possible that the whole situation could turn around in the next few days. As always, we’ll keep you posted.

Source:motorauthority.com