Martin Winterkorn, the headstrong former chief executive of Volkswagen AG, is finally stepping down as head of Porsche Automobil Holding SE, the holding company owned by the Porsche and Piech families. His resignation comes less than a month after he quit as the CEO of Volkswagen amidst the company's massive cheating scandal, reported the Wall Street Journal.
Porsche Automobil Holding SE holds about 52 percent of Volkswagen's voting stock. It is also the carmaker's largest shareholder.
After his resignation, Winterkorn will be succeeded by 64-year-old Austrian Hans Dieter Pötsch, Porsche SE's finance chief and the chairman of Volkswagen's supervisory board, who is known to be close to the Porsche family shareholders. Pötsch will begin his role as Porsche Automobil Holding SE's chief starting Nov. 1.
Though Winterkorn quit last month as CEO of Volkswagen AG, he still retained influence and power behind the scenes by staying on as a key person in the holding company. Wolfgang Porsche, chairman of the supervisory board of the holding company, even praised the disgraced CEO, describing Winterkorn as "highly professional," according to the New York Times.
However, the damage to the reputation of the world's largest automaker has been done, with the scandal hurting the company's sales significantly. Together with a steep decline in its value in the stock market, Volkswagen AG might soon have to initiate a number of job cuts.
