German Billionaire offs himself
Posted by Media Outrage on January 6, 2009
A second wealthy investor has commited suicide within the span of 2 weeks. German billionaire Adolf Merckle commited suicided on some train tracks after his empire felt the effects of this economic meltdown.
Via Yahoo:
German billionaire Adolf Merckle has committed suicide after his business empire, which included interests ranging from pharmaceuticals to cement, ran into trouble in the global financial crisis, his family said Tuesday.
The 74-year-old’s body was found Monday night on railway tracks at Blaubeuren in southwestern Germany, prosecutors in nearby Ulm said in a statement. They described the death as a “railway accident” and said there was no evidence that anyone else was to blame.
His family, which had reported Merckle missing after he failed to return home Monday, issued a brief statement saying he took his own life. A person close to the investigation, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media, said Merckle left a suicide note. Its contents were not divulged.
Merckle’s holding company, VEM Vermoegensverwaltung, recently had been in talks with banks to secure credit after its business interests ran up high levels of debt, and also lost value amid the global financial crisis.
The company declined to say how much it needed, or to comment on German media reports that it might have to sell some of its interests.
In addition, the holding company recently said it had suffered heavy losses on shares of automaker Volkswagen AG, which fluctuated wildly last fall as fellow car maker Porsche SE moved to increase its stake in the company.
“Adolf Merckle lived and worked for his family and his firms,” the family statement said.
“The distress to his firms caused by the financial crisis and the related uncertainties of recent weeks, along with the helplessness of no longer being able to act, broke the passionate family businessman, and he ended his life,” it said.
Merckle’s business interests included generic drug maker Ratiopharm International GmbH and cement maker HeidelbergCement AG.
Merckle helped turn his grandfather’s chemical wholesale company into one of Germany’s biggest pharmaceutical wholesalers, Phoenix Pharmahandel, in which he held a 57 percent stake.
He used his wealth, estimated by Forbes last year to be $9.2 billion, to take stakes in HeidelbergCement and Ratiopharm. HeidelbergCement shares were down 5.8 percent at euro31.39 ($43.18) in Frankfurt trading after news broke of Merckle’s death.
Merckle also owned stakes in companies that made a wide array of goods from all-terrain vehicles, software to textiles.
The governor of Merckle’s home state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Guenther Oettinger, said the region had lost a “great entrepreneurial personality” who built up a “business of European significance.”
Merckle was awarded Germany’s highest decoration, the Bundesverdienstkreuz, in 2005.
Despite his wealth and prominence in corporate Germany, Merckle mostly avoided publicity. He is survived by his wife, Ruth, and four children.
Mediaoutrage- This ish is serious. Anytime billionaires are offing themselves because of the financial meltdown, but commiting suicide on some train tracks? Hell to the Double Naw! It seems that poor people can take way more of life’s tumbles the wealthy.
Yasmine T. said
Wow it’s never that serious! Train Tracks? woa.
why are you commiting suicide when you’re worth billions and people are out here losing their homes and starving? smh
Miss E said
So sad!
cupcakestl said
Well that is truly sad.
truly23 said
That’s wild!!! It’s not enough money in the world to take
my own life.
sorry AI said
Very sad but ain’t no dollar worth the laws of the universe…It’s not even real money…it’s paper
Yvonne said
Wow..this man was billionaire, 74 years old and committed suicide because his business was failing.
Did he know or suspect he was going to lose everything for sure?
The article did say he lived and worked for his family and firm so maybe with his business failing and him being 74 years old he felt he had nothing else to live for, because he sure as hell couldn’t start over.
I am just trying to find some sense in this. This is truly, truly sad.
2020VIZN said
For the love of money!!
Atlanta said
Weak minded people. Ghetto folks live everyday with less than $5 in there pockets.
Yea I Said It said
How could you kill yourself before I get the chance to beg…. If anyone else is depressed and he/she wants to kill themselves, somebody please let me know….
Lai'Lani said
lmao! @ Yea I Said It…u are hilarious
lio said
And I don’t feel sorry for…No need to kill yourself just because your networth went from 12.4 billions to 9.4 billions….Who cares !!! fucking dummy..
Smurfette said
That’s crazy when all u live for is money, so when u lose it u kill yo self. Basically its like this, if the money was your only will to live, u died a long time ago. Real talk
ucanb2 said
For Real Smurfette!!!! Since I don’t have a whole lot of money, I can keep on living. God gave me this life and I’m not taking my life for nothing… SMH
2020VIZN said
Hold up, 12 Billion to 9 Billion and he kills himself. That’s some bullshit. Call everyone of his heirs in and Investigate they ass. Its more to this shit, I dont believe that dude killed himself because he only has 9 Billion dollars. Who ever came up with this reason must have been high, or the person who came up with this reason killed ol boy and hoped that the rest of us were high.
LL said
Yes that’s too much money to still have and kill yourself. something’s a bit suspect about this.
Jon said
You are all forgetting that he could have easily been a person living off 5$ a day if he had chosen to not fulfill whatever potential he had. However, he put his life into his company, so when his company fails and he kills himself, it’s not strictly because he lost money. Obviously, money isn’t everything if he still has 9 billion in assets. (Assuming this was a suicide/accident)
I guess one could say that you should imagine yourself succeeding in the business world and spending your entire life dedicated to success, then it failing. Reckon it’s the shame that bothers him.