Porsche SE: Crisis at Volkswagen and Porsche reduces assets of the owner family

The auto industry is in crisis. The Volkswagen owner holding company also feels this. Several investments are massively devalued. Meanwhile, the value of others increases – but not enough.

Stuttgart. The owner holding company Porsche SE and thus the Porsche and Piëch families are increasingly feeling the weakness of their holdings in the car companies Volkswagen and Porsche AG. The holding company was in the red in the first nine months.

The net loss was 2.8 billion euros, as the company, which is listed in the German small cap index MDax, announced. A year earlier, Porsche SE reported a profit of 1.2 billion euros.

The reason for the losses is impairments of several billion, primarily in the stake in the car manufacturers Volkswagen and Porsche. Both are currently struggling with difficult market conditions, especially in China and with the upheaval in the automotive industry. In contrast, the value of other investments rose by 134 million euros to 669 million euros.

In the past quarter, Porsche SE invested in the US space company Stoke Space Technologies with an investment volume in the low double-digit million US dollar range.

In addition, in the 2026 financial year, follow-up investments were made in the British technology company Quantum Motion, in the German defense start-up Quantum Systems, in the Canadian software developer Waabi and in the Munich rocket developer Isar Aerospace. In total, the holding company has stakes in 15 technology companies in Europe, North America and Israel.

At 135 million euros, the result after taxes in the portfolio investments segment is significantly higher than in the same period last year (13 million euros). The increase is due to the fair value valuations of the portfolio investments, in particular the revaluation of the investment in Quantum Systems.

The owner holding company of the Porsche and Piëch families also had to accept a setback in the adjusted consolidated result - i.e. the result adjusted for value adjustments and special items for the core investments. It fell by a good 40 percent from 1.6 billion to 0.9 billion euros.

CEO Pötsch wants to reduce costs

Porsche SE CEO Hans Dieter Pötsch called on VW CEO Oliver Blume to “quickly implement the measures decided to strengthen competitiveness, reduce costs and sustainably improve profitability.” The quarterly results in the Volkswagen Group clearly showed that this was necessary. “That is now the task and mandate of management.” Pötsch is also chairman of the supervisory board of the Volkswagen Group.

The manager confirmed the annual forecast for Porsche SE, which was lowered in September. For the 2026 financial year, Porsche SE expects consolidated earnings after taxes to be between minus 0.5 billion euros and plus 1.5 billion euros. Group net debt is expected to be between 4.7 billion and 5.2 billion euros.

At the end of the past quarter, net debt was almost unchanged at 5.1 billion euros at the end of 2025. The debt comes primarily from the acquisition of shares in the sports car manufacturer Porsche AG when it went public in 2022. The family holding company will now have to refinance in the coming years until 2030 as interest rates rise.