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http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news...0723-dulg.html

Porsche boss Wiedeking, financial director are out
July 23, 2009 - 3:49PM

German luxury car maker Porsche announced Thursday the resignation "with immediate effect" of its chairman Wendelin Wiedeking and financial director Holger Haerter.

In a statement the Stuttgart-based firm said an agreement on the resignations had been reached with the supervisory board, and that Wiedeking -- said to be the best-paid executive in Germany -- will get a golden handshake worth 50 million euros (71 million US dollars), with half that sum going to a "social foundation".

Porsche's current production chief Michael Macht is to succeed Wiedeking, who together with Haerter, was the architect of Porsche's bid to take over Volkswagen, Europe's biggest automaker.

© 2009 AFP