Post by lala on Jan 7, 2009 9:00:18 GMT
The man ranked 94th on the Forbes Rich List for 2008 threw himself under a train the other day, after lossing obscene amounts of money:
I'd probably be quite happy with the money he had left over.
The 74-year-old pillar of Germany's business community and the country's fifth richest man committed suicide after losing millions in a high-risk stockmarket venture that backfired. Yesterday, his family blamed the credit crunch for his death.
His body was found on tracks 300 yards from his family's villa in Blaubeuren, near Ulm in south Germany. Police said he left a suicide note.
Mr Merckle became one of the most prominent victims of the financial crisis. In a statement, his family said he was broken by the struggle to salvage their business empire. The world's 94th-richest person in 2008, according to Forbes magazine, Mr Merckle spent his life building a business conglomerate with 100,000 employees.
His empire was poised to crash after his family made wrong-way bets on Volkswagen shares, which soared when rival Porsche moved to increase its stake in the company in October. The family has been under pressure to sell 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," his family's statement said.
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/credit-crunch-claims-life-of-billionaire-who-bet-big-1230063.html
I'd probably be quite happy with the money he had left over.
