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> Part of the problem are the unions and a large ownership stake by the state That's interesting. I thought VW had been fully privatized, but TIL the German st
by jobu 10y ago
> Part of the problem are the unions and a large ownership stake by the state
That's interesting. I thought VW had been fully privatized, but TIL the German state of Lower Saxony still owns 20% of the company - http://www.volkswagenag.com/content/vwcorp/content/en/investor_relations/share/Shareholder_Structure.html http://www.volkswagenag.com/content/vwcorp/content/en/invest...
- germanier 10y agoUsually a shareholder needs to own more than 25% of the shares to veto major decisions. For Volkswagen there is a special law lowering this requirement to 20%, which conveniently is the number of shares the state of Lower Saxony owns. This law also requires a two-third majority in the board of directors (which is distinct from the executive board) to set-up or close down factories. Half of the members in the board of directors are (as in all large German companies) employee representatives, granting them a veto power for those decisions.
- Pica_soO 10y agoThis description sounds quite communistic i guess.. But it works really well for everybody.. Some restructuring is necessary though- the whole affair is prone to dig into a technology-tree-branch and stay stuck there.