Did you think the VW-Porsche deal was done? Nein.
When Volkswagen and Porsche sat down at dinner to discuss which one was going to eat the other one, they forgot to invite the German tax man. After VW came to terms with Porsche to take a 49.9% stake in the Stuttgart sports car maker for €8 billion (around $11.4 billion U.S.), the parties discovered there would be a €3 billion ($4.26B) tax bill on top of that.
Adding €3B just to conclude the deal, the way it's currently structured, makes it untenable for both parties. Qatar is still in the picture, but until it's decided who would pay the tax and what they would get in return, some sources are saying the whole thing could evaporate. And if that happened, that could force Porsche to turn to one of several unsavory chapters titled "BK" in the commercial code. Neither VW nor Porsche has yet commented on the tax issue. Thanks for the tip, John!
[Source: News.com.au]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Silly Pickle 11:18AM (7/21/2009)
Can you say Scheisse on here? Shi...I mean shoot, I had no idea!
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Sean Flanagan 11:20AM (7/21/2009)
Obviously neither VW nor Porsche has former executives from Goldman Sachs working for both them and the German government.
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Mr.Oak 11:27AM (7/21/2009)
I find this soap-opera humorous. Porsche essentially got eaten by the very thing they were trying to eat.
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sparrk 1:42PM (7/21/2009)
i'm waiting for the evil twin to appear in the next episode !
geo.stewart 3:51PM (7/21/2009)
nobody's eaten yet.
why dont they merge and hose the gov't because no 'sale' technically happens
BigEd 3:55PM (7/21/2009)
I agree, humorous it is. A great movie material.
David Ederer 11:31AM (7/21/2009)
I guess this situation can happen to anyone. Maybe GM/Opel wasn't so bad.
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bogman12 12:23PM (7/21/2009)
I don't think anyone cares about constant updates on the negotiations between porsche and vw... just report something once it's done and signed...
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audi_arena 1:35PM (7/21/2009)
I agree. The more I find out about the doings of so-called powerful CEO's, the more it just seems like a bunch of teenagers in highschool trying to look cool.
nagmashot 12:24PM (7/21/2009)
this report is wrong.. they know they have to pay tax..part of the VW offer is that they only do it if they find a way around the 3billion Euro tax.... if their layers don´t find a way around it they don´t make the deal... no news..
The only soap is what the internatinal press is doing about it...
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Nobody Special 2:18PM (7/21/2009)
I'm a big VW and Porsche fan, but please, enough already.
Please get rid of egomaniac Pieche (sp) once and for all - and if Qatar gets involved, screw Porsche.
When it comes to ego battles, nobody does it better than the Krauts.......
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Kei 7:12AM (7/22/2009)
Qatar's already moving forward.
http://iloveqatar.net/forum/read.php?28,9016
Qatar's demonstrated to be a great international investor because it's one that just throws money and doesn't get involved.
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