Financial investors could acquire VW and sell it off piece by piece. This is what VW CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder said
in an interview published by Braunschweiger Zeitung. Pischetscrieder’s comments are a little strange and may not be
motivated by any real threat. His logic is that the sum of VW’s publicly traded stock is worth far less than the
company’s actual net worth. This means a group of coordinated investment firms could purchase huge pieces of the
company’s stock, break up the VW Group and sell it off bit by bit.
What we suspect VW is trying to gain more public support for layoffs in Germany, by linking the threat of the
takeover with their market performance which is dependent on the financial performance of their operation. VW has
planned to cut their expenses down significantly over the next few years. Their plants in German are expensive to
operate, and Pischetsreider openly questions whether they can remain competitive globally by building cars in Germany.
Anything they can do to lessen their expenses in Germany or move production to cheaper factories in other countries is
going to help their situation. Why do you think they were wining and dining labor representatives?