Volkswagen Chairman to seek board vote on CEO ahead of AGM: NDR

[April 23, 2015] BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen  Chairman Ferdinand Piech wants to oust Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn ahead of the carmaker's May 5 annual shareholder meeting, German broadcasting network NDR reported on Thursday, without citing sources.

Piech, patriarch of the family that founded Europe's largest automaker, criticized CEO Martin Winterkorn in a magazine article earlier this month.

Senior supervisory board members on April 17 backed Winterkorn, but NDR said Piech did not feel bound by that decision and was now seeking support within the ruling Porsche and Piech families for his bid to replace the CEO.

The families together command 50.7 percent of VW voting rights, and NDR said the state of Lower Saxony, with 20 percent of voting rights, and German unions that occupy half of VW's 20 supervisory board seats, could give up their support of Winterkorn if the families were in agreement that he should go.

It said it was unclear whether Piech would push for Porsche CEO Matthias Mueller or Skoda chief Winfried Vahland as a successor to Winterkorn.

Volkswagen, Piech's office in Salzburg and a spokeswoman for Lower Saxony declined to comment.

The turmoil at the top of Europe's biggest carmaker reflects Piech-Winterkorn tensions that have escalated in step with the chief executive's growing confidence, insiders say.

It has also shifted attention from VW's growth ambitions to governance and performance problems, as challenges pile up and the earnings outlook darkens.

Preference shares in Volkswagen have slid about 10 percent since Piech's outburst, helping to shave 10 billion euros ($11 billion) off the company's market value.

(Reporting by Andreas Cremer and Jan Schwartz; Editing by Thomas Atkins and Elaine Hardcastle)

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