Porsche chief executive, Wendelin Wiedeking is Germany’s top earner, according to figures published this week. The extent of his EUR70m pay package has shocked the country.
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Last year Josef Ackermann of Deutsche Bank was criticised in the press last year for earning EUR13m. Until this year he was Germany’s top earner.
The Porsche six person board awarded themselves performance bonuses totalling EUR113m, up from EUR 45m a year earlier. Wiedeking received the largest proportion of this, thought to be in excess of EUR60m.
Porsche does not have to reveal basic salaries, but Wiedeking is rumoured to earn around EUR7m.
Germany’s President hit out at the ‘fat cat’ pay. In an interview with Handelblatt, President Köhler said that, “Bosses have to grasp that their behaviour has an impact on social solidarity and I can see that society and the business culture are growing further apart.”
Porsche did allow its workforce to benefit from its growing profits by awarding a EUR5,200 bonus to each of its 11,000 workers, reported the Times.
Porsche shares fell this week when it became apparent just how much of Porsche’s earnings rely on complex financial engineering. Porsche finance director, Holger Härter, said that “options on options on options” have delivered profits of EUR250m this year. However, he denies he is taking risks with the Porsche balance sheet, according to the Times.
