Thanks for that. The only other question is why hedges decided to short VW's stock. But the article kind of explains that: Porsche's previous buying up for VW

Thanks for that. The only other question is why hedges decided to short VW's stock. But the article kind of explains that: Porsche's previous buying up for VW stock pushed VW's stock too high for VW's profitability. It startles me, if it's true, that 1) Porsche knew they had pushed VW's stock too high, 2) Porsche knew the hedges would know this, and try to short them, and 3) the hedges would lose huge amounts when it transpires that Porsche actually had most of VW's stock anyway, leaving only a small fraction of available stock, which all the hedges would scramble to buy back, hence fill Porsche's pockets, to fulfill their short contracts. I guess i'd only be illegal if the German courts can prove Porsche misled (manipulated) the market into believing their was more stock available than there actually was.