U.S. FTC gives Porsche green light to increase VW stake

Posted Wed Jun 4 2008 8:37 AM by Viknesh Vijayenthiran

Porsche confirmed last week it would increase its stake in Volkswagen Group beyond the 50% mark and thus gain greater control of the company and all its subsidiary brands, and now U.S. antitrust authorities have given their approval for the deal. The Federal Trade Commission placed the deal on a list of approved mergers, allowing Porsche to take a step further in gaining greater control of one of the world’s biggest carmakers.

There remains fears that sports car programs from Audi, Bentley and Bugatti that could potentially compete with Porsche’s own sports models could be canceled once the Stuttgart-based carmaker takes control, reports Automotive News. The German government is also fearful that greater control by Porsche could see thousands of VW workers lose their job.

In response to Porsche’s takeover announcement, the German government approved a revised version of its 48-year old VW Law, which mandates that any major strategic decisions within VW would still have to be approved by just over 80% of shareholders. This means that decisions made by Porsche, even with a controlling stake, could be blocked by the German state of Lower Saxony, which still holds 20% of VW.

Reader Comments

Wed Jun 4 2008 8:58 AM
shortroot says

Are Porsche and VW/VAG not German companies? Can somebody explain to me what the hell the American 'Federal Trade Commission' has to do with anything? I am not meaning to sound cocky, I really want to know where they fit in.
Wed Jun 4 2008 9:06 AM
wtf says

you took words right out of my mouth
yea really where and how do they fit in?
Wed Jun 4 2008 10:22 AM
j1v says

yea, and Germany is a Federation :)

Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Federal Republic of Germany

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany
Wed Jun 4 2008 10:30 AM
j1v says

huh ... I just saw the title is " U.S. FTC" ...
Wed Jun 4 2008 2:02 PM
justin says

wat is this, why does the US have anything to do with this wars already enough and now cars cmon. Porsche is losing control, US/Germany shouldn't have the right to own one of the worlds first car manufacturers, i hope the CEO of porsche goes kills himself if he dares to take sports cars from Audis tats bs
Thu Jun 5 2008 1:56 PM
William vonSteiner-Lynn says

It's the International Fair Trade Policies that would have to approve a potential Microsoft taking over Yahoo or Thiessen-Krupp taking over US Steel.
Thu Jun 19 2008 1:26 PM
Christian says

Bye Bye R4, or the soo called boxster killer, porsche will now never allow audi to produce a car that could threaten one of porches models, which kinda sucks seeing as the R8 was killing some porsches in alot of categories
Fri Jul 11 2008 8:20 PM
Tony says

To the victor go the spoils. I doubt Audi would hesitate to flex some muscle if they were in the cat-bird seat that Porsche now occupies.

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