Porsche

Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche  or Porsche SE, a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German holding company with investments in the automotive industry.
Porsche SE is headquartered in Zuffenhausen, a city district of Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg and is owned by the Piëch and Porsche families, and Qatar Holdings, through the Qatar Investment Authority (10%). As of September 2011, it owns 50.73% of the voting rights in Volkswagen AG , and 50.1% of Porsche Zwischenholding GmbH, which owns 100% of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, the manufacturer of a range of sports cars and SUVs.
The company was founded as Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH in 1931 by Ferdinand Porsche, an Austrian engineer born in Maffersdorf, during the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Porsche's son-in-law Anton Piëch, an Austrian lawyer.

The company has always had a close relationship with, initially, the Volkswagen (VW) marque, and later, the Volkswagen Group (which also owns Audi AG), because the first Volkswagen Beetle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche. The two companies collaborated in 1969 to make the VW-Porsche 914 and 914-6, whereby the 914-6 had a Porsche engine, and the 914 had a Volkswagen engine, in 1976 with the Porsche 912E (USA only) and the Porsche 924, which used many Audi components, and was built at Audi's Neckarsulm factory. Porsche 944s were also built there, although they used far fewer Volkswagen components. The Cayenne, introduced in 2002, shares its entire chassis with Volkswagen Touareg and Audi Q7, which is built at the Volkswagen Group factory in Bratislava. In late 2005, Porsche took an 18.65% stake in the Volkswagen Group, further cementing their relationship, and preventing a takeover of Volkswagen Group, which was rumoured at the time. Speculated suitors included DaimlerChrysler AG, BMW, and Renault.
On 26 March 2007, Porsche took its holding of Volkswagen AG shares to 30.9%, triggering a takeover bid under German law. Porsche then formally announced in a press statement that it did not intend to take over Volkswagen Group (it would set its offer price at the lowest possible legal value) but intended the move to avoid a competitor taking a large stake, and to stop hedge funds dismantling Volkswagen Group, which is Porsche's most important partner. Porsche's move comes after the European Union moved against a German law that protected Volkswagen AG from takeovers. Under the so-called "Volkswagen Law", any shareholder with more than 20% of the voting rights has veto power over any corporate decision in the annual general meeting – in effect, any shareholder in VW AG cannot exercise more than 20% of the firm's voting rights, regardless of their level of stock holding. (The local state government of Lower Saxony owns 20.1% of the shares.) However, the European Court of Justice ruled against the law, potentially paving the way for a takeover.
On 16 September 2008, Porsche increased its holdings by another 4.89%, in effect taking control of the company, with more than 35% of the voting rights. It again triggered a takeover bid, but this time over Audi. Porsche dismissed the bid as a mere formality, since it is Porsche's intention to keep the corporate structure of the Volkswagen Group.
There has been some tension and anxiety amongst the Volkswagen Group workers, who fear that a Porsche takeover might signify a hardened production efficiency control, rejection of demands for payment rises or even personnel cuts. Ferdinand Piëch and his cousin, Wolfgang Porsche, also seemed to be on a collision course.
On 13 August 2009, Volkswagen AG's Supervisory Board signed the agreement to create an "integrated automotive group" with Porsche, led by Volkswagen AG. Volkswagen will initially take a 49.9 percent stake in Porsche AG by the end of 2009, and it will also see the family shareholders selling the automobile trading business of Porsche Holding Salzburg to Volkswagen AG.

Through the Volkswagen AG stake acquisition, Porsche reformed the company's structure, with Dr Ing. h. c. F. Porsche AG becoming a holding company, renamed "Porsche Automobil Holding SE", and a new Dr Ing. h. c. F. Porsche AG operating company being formed in 2007. Thus the operating activities are separated from holding activities of the company. There was an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) for Porsche AG shareholders which took place on 26 June 2007, at the Porsche Arena in Stuttgart, Germany to discuss the change to the company structure. In the late 2009 VW (which also owns by AUDI) bought the controlling rights to Porsche. 
On 3 March 2007, Porsche set the stage for obtaining a plurality stake in the Volkswagen AG. One day later Porsche sought to allay fears it would attempt to force a merger with Volkswagen Group. By September, Porsche owned a 35.14% plurality stake in Volkswagen AG, effectively giving it control over the company. Volkswagen Group expected the move, and welcomed Porsche's investment.
In October 2008, Porsche announced its intent to raise its stake in Volkswagen AG to 75% during 2009, and on 7 January 2009, Porsche's holding in VW AG was raised to 50.76%. Porsche's move automatically triggered a bid for Scania AB, because VW AG already had a controlling position in the Swedish truck-maker. As Porsche had no strategic interest in the company, on 19 January, they offered the minimum price in that mandatory takeover bid. Porsche SE owned 50.8 percent of Volkswagen Group as of 5 January 2009, and has said it plans to lift the stake to 75 percent before the end of 2009, at that level they could bring VW AG's cash onto Porsche's books.
By March 2009, Porsche SE was aiming for its first ever credit ratings from U.S. rating agencies Standard & Poor's and Moody's.
In its efforts to acquire a majority holding in Volkswagen AG, Porsche built up a large debt burden, aggravated by taxes due on very large paper profits from Volkswagen AG options. By July 2009, Porsche was faced with debts exceeding 10 billion euros. The supervisory board of Porsche finally agreed to a number of arrangements whereby the Qatar Investment Authority would inject a large amount of capital, and Porsche would be merged with Volkswagen Group. On 23 July 2009, Michael Macht was appointed CEO, to replace Wendelin Wiedeking, who is expected to receive a compensation package of 50 million euros.
In July 2010, Porsche appointed Volkswagen executive Matthias Müller to its new CEO position, moving Michael Macht to another executive position within Volkswagen AG.

The headquarters and main factory are located in Zuffenhausen, a district in Stuttgart, but the Cayenne and Panamera models are manufactured in Leipzig, Germany, and parts for the SUV are also assembled in the Volkswagen Touareg factory in Bratislava, Slovakia. Boxster and Cayman production was outsourced to Valmet Automotive in Finland from 1997 to 2011, and in 2012 production moved to Germany.
The company has been highly successful in recent times, and indeed claims to have the highest profit per unit sold of any car company in the world.
Table of profits (in millions of euros) and number of cars produced. Figures from 2008/9 onwards were not reported as part of Porsche SE.