] With his twinkly eyes and durable smile, Wendelin
] Wiedeking doesn't look like a fighter. But the Porsche
] CEO loves a good scrap. Taking principled but unpopular
] positions, then defending them to the death, is his
] nature. When the German government offered $97.5 million
] in subsidies in 1999 to help Porsche build a new assembly
] plant, for example, Wiedeking turned it down. He said he
] wanted to protect Porsche customers from complaints that
] taxpayers were subsidizing their expensive tastes. He has
] also rebuffed Porsche executives who want stock options.
] In fact, he won't even let them buy company stock.
] Wiedeking worries that in a company as small as Porsche
] (fiscal 2002 revenues were less than $5 billion), almost
] every decision could affect the share price and thus lead
] to suspicions of insider trading.