German luxury car maker Porsche announced Thursday the resignation "with immediate effect" of its chairman Wendelin Wiedeking and financial director Holger Haerter, reported AP.
In a statement the Stuttgart-based firm said an agreement on the resignations had been reached with the supervisory board, and that Wiedeking -- said to be the best-paid executive in Germany -- will get a golden handshake worth 50 million euros (71 million dollars), with half that sum going to a "social foundation".
Porsche's current production chief Michael Macht is to succeed Wiedeking, who together with Haerter, was the architect of Porsche's bid to take over Volkswagen, Europe's biggest automaker.