Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche (German pronunciation: [ˈpɔʁʃə] ( listen)), 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%). Porsche 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.
On July 2012, it was announced that Volkswagen AG was taking over the Porsche automotive company completely, which bears the same name, but is only a subsidiary of Porsche SE.
The company was founded in Stuttgart 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.
Porsche SE is the owner of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG (Porsche AG), and in June 2007 became a holding company for its stake in Porsche Zwischenholding GmbH (50.1%) (which in turn holds 100% of Porsche AG) and Volkswagen AG (50.7%). In August 2009, Porsche SE and Volkswagen AG reached an agreement that the two companies would merge in 2011, to form an "Integrated Automotive Group". During December 2009, Porsche SE lost control of Porsche Zwischenholding GmbH, which as a result is now a joint venture between Porsche SE and Volkswagen AG. As of 5 July 2012, Volkswagen is to acquire the 50.1 per cent in Porsche's capital that it doesn't already hold from holding company Porsche SE for €4.46 billion plus one Volkswagen share.
