teddy Posted January 6, 2009 Report Share Posted January 6, 2009 From CNBC, here is the full article Billionaire tops himself In killing himself German billionaire Adolf Merckle has become the latest casualty of the global financial crisis, his family saying on Tuesday he was broken by the struggle to salvage their business empire. Merckle, who was the world's 94th-richest person in 2008 according to Forbes magazine, spent his life building a business conglomerate with about 100,000 employees. The empire was poised to come crashing down after his family made wrong-way bets on skyrocketing Volkswagen shares. The family has been under pressure to sell some assets or seek bridging loans and has been in talks with banks for weeks. "The desperate situation of his companies caused by the financial crisis, the uncertainties of the last few weeks and his powerlessness to act, have broken the passionate family entrepreneur and he took his own life," a family statement said. The 74-year-old industrialist died when a train struck him late on Monday, said prosecutors in the southern German town of Ulm, near Merckle's home. Little was publicly known about the father-of-four, who lived in the southwest German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg and was said to enjoy skiing and mountain-climbing. He received the German Federal Cross of Merit in 2005 for his achievements in fostering economic growth in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Market players said Merckle liked to keep a low profile and had seemed like a conservative investor. Yet he became the most well-known victim of a share market squeeze which briefly made carmaker Volkswagen the world's most valuable company late in October. Its share price rocketed to just over 1,000 euros from 210 euros in two trading sessions after rival Porsche made a surprise stakeholding announcement that sent short sellers of VW shares running for cover. "He had a reputation for being very, very prudent, very cautiousâ??a typical entrepreneur who always remained down-to-earth. So it was a huge surprise," said an analyst who asked not to be named. At the time there was mostly speculation about banks and hedge funds that could have made heavy losses on VW. But banking sources told Reuters that Merckle's losses were estimated at 400 million euros ($539 million). So this guy becomes the 94th richest man in the world and then loses it all by shorting 1 stock. This is madness and pure greed, who on earth would risk all that on one single bet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mainsail Posted January 6, 2009 Report Share Posted January 6, 2009 Sad and a waste. I agree with Ben Stein's editorial over the weekend. "We are not our bank accounts." I understand why the pain can be very great when you lose everything you worked your whole life for. But we have to remember that finance is just a game with numbers. In the end they are just numbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 My dad had a friend whose father had been senior vice president of the American Can Company in 1929. The papa jumped out of a window after the crash. Seems he sort of forgot he had a wife and son. The son had just started the University of Chicago, but dropped out to try to help support his mother. He never did finish university and became a career Army NCO. (Mama got by when she sold their home ... it was eventualy turned into a private girls' school!) Wonder what the father had been thinking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamui Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 My dad had a friend whose father had been senior vice president of the American Can Company in 1929. The papa jumped out of a window after the crash. Seems he sort of forgot he had a wife and son. The son had just started the University of Chicago, but dropped out to try to help support his mother. He never did finish university and became a career Army NCO. (Mama got by when she sold their home ... it was eventually turned into a private girls' school!) Wonder what the father had been thinking? For someone with 100.000 workers and a huge business empire, his business was probably more than anything else. And since he was short of a few billion Euro, while that banks cut his credit line, his life's work was/is about collapse... Actually Merckle was one of the first to ask for a governmental bail out, but all - including the politicians - laughed at him, since obviously he lost his money in a stock market gamble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torneyboy Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 He did ..and lost ...could have gone the other way as well.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 Hi, No sympathy from me. He gambled knowingly and lost it all. Stupidity and greed = deadly combination. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 Some former billionaire (banker?) in Iceland is now down to ZERO! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colorwolf Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 Some former billionaire (banker?) in Iceland is now down to ZERO! ...but no trains in iceland, so he can't jump in front of one of them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liquidflux Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 I didn't read the full article, but maybe I should? If the guy was a billonare and his losses were 539 million, that leaves him with at least 461 million. I think I could manage to live on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faustian Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 Yeah, I'd quite to give living on that money a go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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