Morning Briefing: Das Versagen der VW-Großaktionäre hat zwei Namen

Guten Morgen, liebe Leserinnen und Leser. Volkswagen's top shareholders are rapidly splitting into two factions, setting the stage for unprecedented escalation in German business history. If CEO Oliver Blume's turnaround plan is approved at tomorrow's supervisory board meeting, an extraordinary general meeting could be forced to ratify it.

Section 111 of the German Securities Act allows this, but requires a three-quarters majority of the outstanding share capital. The Porsche and Piëch families (53.3 percent combined) and Qatar Holding (17 percent) can only achieve this with a portion of the dispersed shares. Workers are determined to block this move, prepared to take their case to the Federal Court of Justice and beyond across Europe if necessary.

They argue that the voting minority in Lower Saxony cannot be overridden by an extraordinary general meeting. The legal battle is likely to last years, leaving the fate of Blume's turnaround plan uncertain. One VW decision-maker warned my colleagues that such an extraordinary general meeting would constitute a "fatale Signal, nach innen wie nach außen."