If you went into this week believing that Volkswagen AG already owned the Audi marque, don’t worry — you were correct on that one. VW has held an interest in the brand since 1964, when it took over Audi from Daimler-Benz, but now the larger multinational unit that owns the Volkswagen, Bentley, Porsche, Škoda, SEAT and Lamborghini brands, among several others, is taking the last tiny fragment of the company that minority shareholders clung to until this point. From the 50 percent controlling stake the group established almost half a century ago, that share increased to 99.64 percent.
According to an Automotive News report, however, VW Group will in fact buy out the remaining 0.36 percent. “Volkswagen AG announced and specified that it has set the cash settlement to be paid to the minority shareholders in return for the transfer of their shares at 1,551.53 euros per Audi AG share,” a representative told Automotive News in a statement.
