Don't Cry For Winterkorn Just Yet; Former CEO Could Get $67M Handshake

by Aaron Cole

Updated: December 31st, 2020 Published: September 24th, 2015

don t cry for winterkorn just yet former ceo could get 67m handshake

Ousted Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn could receive up to $67 million after leaving the automaker on Wednesday, depending on how his exit pay is calculated.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Winterkorn had amassed at least $34 million in his pension by 2014 ( was stock included?) and his exit pay would be roughly two years of his ~~current~~ former $17 million annual compensation.

He’d also be entitled to a company car. There are plenty he could choose from right now.

According to the report, the Volkswagen board could ultimately decide how golden Winterkorn’s parachute will be. The ousted CEO wouldn’t be entitled to two years worth of pay if the board determined that Winterkorn’s exit was his fault.

Withholding Winterkorn’s salary for two years may be a pyrrhic victory, though. Acknowledging the top brass knew about the defeat device at any executive level would put the automaker in a world of lawsuit hurt.

#Diesel #MartinWinterkorn #Resignation #TDI #Volkswagen #VwDieselScandal

Aaron Cole

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7 of 28 comments

Redliner on Sep 24, 2015

For his sake one would hope his exit pay didn't include large amounts of VW stock. Wooops, looks like you just took a 50% haircut there ol' Winky-dink!

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Jpolicke on Sep 24, 2015

I find it entirely plausible that Winterkorn had no part in directing the fraudware to be written and that he learned of it relatively recently. [Boy, to be a fly on the wall during that conversation!] However, if he left of his own accord rather than being pushed out by the board, I have no respect for the man. Anybody can bail out when it hits the fan; a real leader has the guts to stand fast and address the situation. If that's the case then VW is better off without him.

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- ClutchCarGo on Sep 24, 2015
  
  I would agree that Winterkorn likely had no explicit knowledge of the defeat, nor did he directly order it, but I'm reminded of the scene from Atlas Shrugged where a train is stopped at the Taggart Tunnel for the lack of a proper engine. Some inconvenienced muckety-muck on the train calls D.C. demanding that "something be done", starting a chain of calls from superiors to underlings giving them non-specific orders to "resolve this problem" or else, leading to some low-level employees in fear for their jobs making the disastrous decision that results in the destruction of the tunnel. Plausible deniability all the way up the chain but a disaster none the less.
  
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- Jthorner on Sep 24, 2015
  
  I don't. He came up through the engineering side of the company and I doubt he was completely unaware of the "breakthrough" which enabled VW to make compliant diesel engines without using AdBlue as everyone else had found they had to do. He had to know at least enough to say something like "I don't need any details .... plausible deniability and so on".
  
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- VCplayer on Sep 24, 2015
  
  I'm almost certain that if Winterkorn knew then the board knew too, and I really can't see Winterkorn NOT knowing about something like this given his background. But if you're the CEO you tell stuff like this to your board. I wouldn't expect them to admit that of course. It will be interesting if meeting minutes ever get seized as part of whatever investigation gets done.
  
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RHD on Sep 24, 2015

If VW stock keeps tanking like it has been, in a little while he could take his 67 million and buy the entire company.

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Oldyak on Sep 25, 2015

67 million for what? I cant fathom his value,or any other human`s is that much! Great way to start a revolution! Lets just tell all the refugees that we cant let you in because we dont have the money for it! 67 million would go a long way to solving this problem. And people wonder why the Islamist`s hate the west...duh

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