That burden ultimately weakened its own position and the red ink will continue to hurt the company in this fiscal year. Meanwhile powerful trade union IG Metall and the works council at Volkswagen fought the takeover by Porsche tooth-and-nail. Hard-charging Porsche chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking inflamed tempers when he said he would go after the "sacred cows" at Volkswagen, where labour has a strong say in the company's management. Wiedeking's bold attempt to take over the much bigger VW also made an enemy of Ferdinand Piech, the fearsome 72-year-old chairman of VW's supervisory board and a scion of the Porsche clan who holds a major stake in the company. Piech emerged top dog from a nasty months-long scrap with Wiedeking and Piech's cousin Wolfgang Porsche, another major Porsche shareholder who had backed the VW takeover bid.