Sharing the workplace is one of the trends in the world of work right now. Oliver Blume has two top positions at the same time: the manager is CEO of the Volkswagen Group and at the same time head of the sports car manufacturer Porsche. He has held the two positions at the two Dax companies for a good nine months. “My dual role works. With advantages for Porsche and advantages for the Volkswagen Group. And of course we have also established a stable set of rules for this,” the 55-year-old engineer replied to his critics among the more than 1,400 shareholder representatives at the Porsche Annual General Meeting in Stuttgart. The dual role is permanent.
“The day has only 24 hours and is not enough to successfully manage two DAX companies,” said Deka fund manager Ingo Speich. Porsche affords two part-time board members. Speich pointed out that Chief Financial Officer Lutz Meschke also sits on the board of the investment company Porsche SE. Through the Porsche SE holding, the Porsche and Piëch families control the majority in VW and also a blocking minority in the sports car manufacturer Porsche. Hendrik Schmidt, an expert in good corporate governance at the fund company DWS, called the double function “highly problematic”.