The billion-dollar family that owns a controlling stake in Volkswagen AG has sold its shares in Porsche Design prior to Ferdinand Piech’s impending departure from the German conglomerate.
Bloomberg reports that Porsche AG purchased the family’s 35 per cent stake in Porsche Design, a company which manufacturers high-end merchandise including sunglasses and watches. It is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Porsche’s car division.
News of this switch-up in the Volkswagen AG family comes shortly after Piech agreed to sell the majority of his shares in the company in a deal thought to be worth around $1.1 billion.
Late last month it emerged that Piech’s career in the automotive industry was on the cusp of engine after it was confirmed that he was selling his 15 per cent stake in Porsche SE, the family holding company that controls Volkswagen AG.
Insiders suggest that Piech burned many bridges with key Volkswagen executives after his departure as the company’s chairman in April 2015 and in the fallout of the diesel emissions-cheating scandal. He testified to German prosecutors that VW directors knew about the scandal more than six months before it became public, a suggestion these top executives have denied.
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