Volkswagen Investor Pressure on Oliver Blume Amid Crisis

TapTechNews September 25th news, at noon Beijing time today, according to the Financial Times of the UK, investors of Volkswagen are further putting pressure on Oliver Blume to ask him to give up serving as the CEO of both Porsche and Volkswagen (TapTechNews note: the former's parent company).

Currently, Europe's largest car manufacturer is facing the biggest crisis in decades. Ingo Speich, head of corporate governance at Dekabank, questioned: How can he properly handle the work of these two positions at the same time in the case of a structural crisis in the automotive industry? Dekabank is one of the top 15 major shareholders of preferred shares of Volkswagen.

Hendrik Schmidt, an expert in corporate governance at DWS, which holds about 2% of Volkswagen's preferred shares, said this crisis shows that this unconventional leadership structure can only be accepted in the short term.

Since Oliver Blume has been serving as the CEO of both Porsche and Volkswagen two years ago, he has been criticized by investors and analysts, and his ability to manage two listed companies simultaneously has been questioned.

While under great pressure, Oliver Blume is also facing a struggle with the works council of Volkswagen, as Volkswagen plans to lay off tens of thousands of people and close factories in Germany - for the first time in its 87-year history. Oliver Blume and other executives believe that under structural challenges such as the shrinking European car market and the slowdown in the demand of Chinese consumers for German brands, layoffs are crucial if the company wants to survive.