Forbes reports that the latest showdown pits Porsche against the German state of Lower Saxony, which holds just over 20 percent of VW stock and is determined to maintain VW jobs in Germany. Porsche wants Volkswagen bylaws amended to remove remaining provisions from the "VW Law" which had protected the firm from takeover, but was struck down by a European High Court last year. The move is aimed at breaking Lower Saxony's de facto veto power, by abolishing the 80 percent threshold for important decisions and a 20 percent cap on voting rights. Meanwhile, Lower Saxony argues that the court decision only proscribes the combination of these two measures, and supports a new draft law which would maintain its veto power. Meanwhile, VW CEO Martin Winterkorn has accused Porsche of bringing labor (and by extension, Lower Saxony's) opposition upon itself, telling the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (via Reuters) that "Porsche scared employees unnecessarily at the beginning. To speak of 'sacred cows' — perhaps that wasn't very clever." How much more collegial can things get?
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You would think that the Germans, of all people, would realize the problems of allowing too much state influence in your corporations.