The CEO and his new CFO? Winterkorn and Stadler
Until Wednesday last week, Volkswagen’s Flurfunk (Hallway Radio) rumor mill was convinced that VW CEO Martin Winterkorn would become chairman of Volkswagen’s supervisory board, and that he will take the seat vacated by Ferdinand Piech leaving in a huff. Then, a perplexed hallway radio had to get used to the idea that Volkswagen’s long-time CFO Hans-Dieter Pötsch would get the chairman job, and that Witerkorn would stay on as CEO for another two years. Turns out it was Piech himself who frustrated Winterkorn’s advancement.
According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the Porsche and Piech families already had agreed to make Winterkorn chairman of the supervisory board, and to have Pötsch succeed him as CEO. Then, last week, Piech intervened, and foiled the plan. Pötsch became chairman, WiKo had to stay in his old job.
Pötsch’s advancement is likely to trigger a massive round of musical chairs at Volkswagen’s top. The hallway radio thinks that Pötsch’s CFO job will be taken by current Audi chief Rupert Stadler. The Audi CEO job could then be assumed by Christian Klingler. Stadler is a controller, and qualified for the CFO job. That Klingler is competent enough to lead Audi probably will be hotly debated, especially in Ingolstadt.
The new Audi chief? Christlian Klingler (center)
Further in the musicals chair dept. the hallway radio says that Stefan N. Quary, formerly chief of the Duerkop chain of car dealers, will be Skoda’s new sales chief in Germany. Current sales chief Gunther Riedel is rumored to leave the company.
No responsibility is taken for the correctness of the hallway radio. As we have seen, sometimes it is ahead of its times.
