what abt trucks? MAN's AGM

last thursday there was the 130th (or the like) AGM for the MAN shareholders. of course, there were many ups and downs in company's more than 250 years old history, the recent corruption and power struggle scandal was just the latest sad episode ... well, volkswagen's (VW) almighty rowdy god ferdinand piëch won again and the former soooo sympathetic and sooooo succesful CEO hakan samuelsson lost his job :-(

i was very interested abt MAN's outlook for the future, so i accepted to endure hearing to grandpa piëch's soooo slow and soooo boring speach (besides his VW functions he is also the chairman of the advisory board @ MAN because of VW's 29% stake in MAN) and been there from the very start. MAN's business decreased in 2009 by approx 30% as in the financial crisis out there, both the car (trucks & buses) + the diesel engines (ships & power plants, esp. solar energy power plants) divisions suffered badly. thx to samuelsson's lead MAN managed to make a small profit anyway, there will also be a small dividend at my account on monday ... btw, did you know that more than 50% of all ship transportation worldwide is driven by MAN diesel power engines? well, as ive expected the economy prospects are still baaaad, baaaaad, baaaad :-(

damn! what is the motivation for the already 73 years old millionaire/billionaire piëch (btw, he is the grandson of the great ferdinand porsche, who has already in 1899 constructed an electric car) not to slow down, not to simply enjoy his life, not to let other folks continue his work and run 'his' car imperium? it is s.th. tied-up with his tough battlesome character, isnt it?

im not sure if my list of volkswagen's holdings (often 100% or some other major stake) is complete, but its a lot anyway:

• audi
• bentley
• bugatti
• lamborghini
• MAN
• scania
• seat
• skoda
• suzuki
• porsche
• volkswagen 

useful links:

• company website: MAN 
• last year's event: same place, different time :-)
• my MAN involvement: xmas shopping orgy ;o)
• ohhhhh, i have found a link (source: wikipedia) abt former + present brands of volkswagen group, there are also 5 inactive marques via Audi AG => enjoy