The Morning Download: Volkswagen Deepens Cost-Cutting Overhaul

Good morning. Volkswagen has been working on plans for a major overhaul of its business for months as it seeks to slash costs largely through technological advancements, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The story is still developing, but the Journal’s coverage of the company over the last year reflects a combination of serious competitive pressures and a growing investment in AI as it reworks its processes. Recent stories provide context for the role that technology plays as the company adapts to a challenging market.

The German car giant said in a statement that its entire group, including brands and subsidiaries, needs to undergo deep change, the Journal said.  Once the Supervisory Board approves a plan, the next step will be implementation. More highlights:

• Volkswagen’s comments follow the company’s previous decision to cut 50,000 jobs across the group in Germany by 2030.
• According to a report from Germany’s Manager Magazin, the company could cut up to 100,000 jobs. Volkswagen declined to comment on the report.

Separately, the WSJ reported that Volkswagen said late Wednesday it would sell 51% of its Everllence heavy-engine division to Bain Capital for the equivalent of about $8.4 billion, “a step in its campaign to reorder an unwieldy automotive empire that is coming under mounting pressure from China.”

During the last year the company has divulged plans to invest up to 1 billion euros ($1.18 billion) to expand its AI capabilities by 2030.

“AI is our key to greater speed, quality, and competitiveness—across the entire value chain, from vehicle development to production,” Hauke Stars, member of the board of management for IT at Volkswagen Group said in this story last September. “Our ambition: No process without AI.”

When AI puts Gen Z in the C-Suite. Generation Z—those born between 1997 and 2012—aren’t exactly storming the C-suite, a move that typically takes years of corporate ladder-climbing. But some firms are putting more weight on youth and AI-native talent.

Zain Lakhani, 23, was still a teenager during the initial ChatGPT boom of 2022. After founding and selling a startup, he’s now the chief AI officer at software firm Pendo—a role he nabbed in part thanks to his youth

“He’s got experiences we don’t have. He’s got perspective we don’t have,” Pendo co-founder and Chief Executive Todd Olson, 50, tells the WSJ Leadership Institute's Isabelle Bousquette.

WATCH | Autodesk launches $350 million AI upskilling initiative.
Autodesk chief marketing and commercial officer Dara Treseder is leading artificial-intelligence adoption both inside and outside the company.

WATCH | Adobe CMO on the shift to AI-driven search. Lara Balazs says corporate branding is increasingly critical as AI reshapes consumer search. To help marketers navigate the shift toward AI search optimization, Adobe acquired Semrush to launch a "Brand Visibility" tool.

• Memory chip makers like Micron are riding an extraordinary shortage that has them locking customers into unprecedented multi-year supply deals. "But necessity is also the mother of invention," notes Heard on the Street's Dan Gallagher, and there are signs that some tech players are looking at workarounds to reduce future dependence.

• Apple raised Mac prices roughly 15 to 20% and iPad prices 15 to 25% Thursday, a week after CEO Tim Cook warned that quadrupling memory and storage chip costs had made increases unavoidable, WSJ reports. iPhone prices were unchanged, though the company hinted at more increases in a statement.

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told staff that its latest model, GPT 5.6, will be released in a limited preview to only a small number of organizations, citing a request from the federal government, the Information reports. Earlier this month, the Department of Commerce imposed export controls on rival Anthropic, barring foreign nationals from using its Fable and Mythos models.

• OpenAI is also leaning toward delaying its IPO until 2027, according to people involved, after market turbulence, including the post-debut slump of SpaceX, made advisers doubt investor appetite, the New York Times reports. 

• China’s DeepSeek said it is hiring for 27 types of technical roles, doubling its workforce after raising more than $7.4 billion in its first funding round, WSJ reports.

This September 14–15, technology leaders will gather in New York City for the WSJ Technology Council Summit to explore how enterprise AI is moving from experimentation to measurable business value. Join the Technology Council and be part of the conversations shaping the future of leadership, as executives tackle AI deployment, cybersecurity, evolving technology policy, enterprise transformation and the strategies driving the next generation of business innovation.

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