The evil market conditions claim another casualty, here in Germany, and Volkswagen related. I wonder what made him that desperate. The text below doesn´t really give an answer. R.I.P.
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Adolf Merckle suicide: German who lost £1bn in the financial crisis jumps under train
Adolf Merckle, a German businessman who lost £1 billion in the financial crisis, has committed suicide.
ast Updated: 5:05PM GMT 06 Jan 2009
Adolf Merckle, a German businessman who lost £1 billion in the financial crisis, has committed suicide.
Merckle was one of the richest men in the world Photo: DPA
Merckle, 74, one of the world's richest men and the head of a drugs and engineering conglomerate, was found dead on the railway line not far from his home in the small village of Blauberen near Ulm in southwestern Germany on Monday night.
German police confirmed a suicide note had been found and said "no third party is being sought in conjunction with his death".
His family blamed the economic downturn for his death.
"The economic state of distress of his companies caused by the financial crisis and the associated uncertainties of the last weeks, as well as the powerlessness not to be able to act anymore broke this passionate family entrepreneur, and he terminated his life," a statement read.
Merckle was one of the richest men in the world last year with a fortune pegged by Forbes at over £6 billion ($9billion).
The crash and his poor choice of betting on the German DAX late last year are thought to have dramatically cut that fortune.
Reports in Germany spoke of the global financial crisis as "breaking" Merckle.
Last month, his business empire stood on the brink of collapse as the Royal Bank of Scotland baulked at a further bridging loan of £360 million (400 million euros) to rescue him.
Merckle controlled the pharmaceutical group Ratiopharm, cement company HeidelbergCement and one of Europe's biggest wholesale drug distributors, Phoenix.
He also had an investment firm which lost £1bn in November when VW shares went through the roof during the takeover battle with Porsche and he bet the wrong way. Media reports put him as the biggest single loser in the debacle and it sent him into a tailspin of depression.
Merckle lived in the southern German village and was an avid mountain climber whose only luxury was to go on expeditions to the Andes or Himalayan mountains.
Born in eastern Dresden in 1934 and a father of four children, Merckle inherited in the late 1960s a small pharmaceutical company from his father that employed 80 people.
Little by little, he built an empire, with sales of around £31 billion (35 billion euros) and employing more than 100,000 workers.
Former Ratiopharm director Heinrich Zinken told Manager Magazin that Merckle was "greedy, envious, and held grudges".
Sources said his depression was "too deep, his losses too great to bear".
He left behind his wife Ruth, sons Ludwig, Philipp Daniel and Tobias and a daughter, Jutta. |
