German Billionaire Kills Self, Family Says

German Billionaire Kills Self, Family Says

www.cnn.com

(CNN) -- German billionaire Adolf Merckle, one of the richest men in the world, committed suicide Monday after his business empire got into trouble in the wake of the international financial crisis, Merckle's family said Tuesday in a statement.

Merckle, 74, was hit by a train in the southwestern town of Ulm, police said.

His family said the economic crisis had "broken" Merckle.

He was number 94 on the Forbes list of the world's richest people. He had fallen from number 44 on the Forbes 2007 rich list as his fortune declined from $12.8 billion to $9.2 billion in 2008.

Merckle's business empire included interests as diverse as cement-maker HeidelbergCement and generic drug-maker Ratiopharm. But he lost hundreds of millions of dollars, including company capital, betting against Volkswagen stock last year.

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Whoa.. wait a minute.


So you lost millions... you are a BILLIONAIRE. And 74 to boot. This guy makes it to 74 and the loss of millions breaks him?

Am I missing something here?

There has got to be more to it I would think. Maybe not, but it's tough to add up in my mind. Maybe he felt horrible for the job losses which would result of the cuts he would have to make to make up for it... who knows.

But it just smells like we are only getting half the story here.

You know, you hear all the stories of suicide by millionaires during the depression, but this is just surreal.

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If he committed suicide because of his "TROUBLES" then i feel no compassion for him. I'm tired of hearing about the problems of millionaires and billionaires. I wish right now, in the current state of affairs that I was and thousandaire . Problem is that these people are used to getting everything the way they want it and when a problem arises they have no concept of reality.

Then again, who knows if he was offed by someone whose investment he lost.

Yea, this doesn't make any sense to me either. Things must have been much worse than what was known for him to kill himself. No way a billionaire kills himself when he only loses millions, unless millions are just the tip of the iceberg of what he knew he was going to lsoe/already lost.

Any reason for him to be murdered? I think it's worth asking.

What the hell? I would have expected him to commit suicide if his bank balance went down to 000000000 digits but just a coupla millions lost and he ticks himself off?

Kinda crazy!

Just 1mil will do the job for me.

"And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer."

did this just happen???

It just sounds so familiar..... didn't another millionaire or CEO walk in front of a train a few months ago? Or has suicide by train suddenly become commonplace??

surely he must have been on the verge of loosing everything to want to end it all, maybe he had more debts than capital and it was all going to go belly up this year? maybe like many rich people he linked his self worth to the amount of zeros after his name, they started to fall and his whole life seemed to have been wasted?

it's hard to even comprehend for me how someone with with over a million pounds could do anything but grin all day long, then again i've had to work for everything in my life and my bank balance has only twice in my entire life (for very short periods) had three figures after the first '1'. I don't mind though if having money turns you as neurotic and week as most rich people seem to be, i could have nothing but the sun shining on my bare behind and still be grateful.

Originally posted by HunkaHunka


Whoa.. wait a minute.


So you lost millions... you are a BILLIONAIRE. And 74 to boot. This guy makes it to 74 and the loss of millions breaks him?

Am I missing something here?

There has got to be more to it I would think. Maybe not, but it's tough to add up in my mind. Maybe he felt horrible for the job losses which would result of the cuts he would have to make to make up for it... who knows.

But it just smells like we are only getting half the story here.

You know, you hear all the stories of suicide by millionaires during the depression, but this is just surreal.

While I loves me a conspiracy, I don't think we have one here.

According to reports in the German media, he left a suicide note in which he apologised to his family, but offered no concrete reasons or motives. Prosecutors said they did not believe anyone else was involved in his death.

A railway worker found the businessman's body on the track 300 metres from the family home, and his family confirmed the identity of the body.

More in depth info.

This guy was short Volkswagon last year when it briefly became the largest company in the world by market share.

He stepped in front of the train yesterday. it was announced today that the transaction between Porche and Volkswagon is complete.

This guy was taken for a serious ride, he couldn't take anymore and got off. Let that be a lesson to anyone who has made deals in the dark. He doesn't exist in the future.

? either way, regardless of his business deals, as long as he had 1 bil+ he could have gotten out of any situation, any trouble, as long as he kept a cool, critical, observative and logical standpoint, which he probably HAD considering he's a multi-billionaire. HOWEVER, it still doesn't explain why he would kill himself. It smells fishy, but who gives a #? It may or may not help me, but I wouldn't thank him anytime soon...

Why is this a surprise? People like this cling hard to their money. I would daresay it becomes their identity - so when they lose it for whatever reason, they lose their identity, their reason for living. No money, no reason to go on. This guy might have been a "glass half empty" kind of guy, meaning that with even half his fortune gone he felt like a failure and needed to off himself. Hope he left some of that money to worthy charities.

He still had 9 billion dollars? While people starve to death, freeze to death, get sick and die from exposure, lose their homes and marriages get ruined because the victims of those tragedies either have no money at all or have negative net worths... this piece of slime had 9 billion dollars, and he thought HE had money problems? Worth committing suicide over?

What a greedy piece of crap. Good riddance.

Let me shout that one out again... GOOD RIDDANCE.

reply to post by worldwatcher


I was wondering the same thing. And death by train? Gross. Seems fishy to me.

People like him have adapted to having so much money, they dont know any different. I mean with that much cash you can do just about anything on the planet AND off! But I doubt someone like him at that age could adapt to going broke and living like the majority of us.

Sorry, but, a BILLIONAIRE???

So the only thing worth living for to him were his billions?

He's better off dead. :shk:

its all very strange,if you want to know a sad truth there is a mind control frequency of suicide,eurphoria mixed with agression.
it can be emmited remotly upon people,towns villages,homes etc
its somewhere between 50-60hz,classified of course.
thats right reaserch into our own brain freq 50-60hz has been classified,whats more 60hz is the freq of powerlines....
ile talk more of this subject in a thread ile post.

What is a billionaire doing living 300 meters from the train tracks!

At 74 years of age the first thing I would check for is a terminal diagnosis. Many senior citizens commit suicide ...sad but true. Getting old is not for sissys.

However...there could be something conspiratorial here.

I think its important to understand the nature on how he acquired his wealth. Did he start out with nothing and make something for himself? Or did he step on people while practicing the art of ripoff ponzi schemes? There is a difference.

If I did things the right way and saw lots of money just disappear beneath me and had to make tough business decisions, there would indeed be psychological implications.

Sorry for the unpopular arguement but it is possible.

I got a feeling this guy has either conned or simply lost money for a lot of everyday (ish compared to a billionaire) people. A sudden realisation of his possible 'evil' practices?

I would say he didn't kill him self loosing his own money, I'll bet as things start to unravel this will be yet another example of what I call pretend money. The game is to constantly keep the money moving to make money - if the money stands still too long (as all money is at the moment) people see it's all just numbers on a spread sheet, and very little of it is tangible asset. And then the mad scramble begins to recover what is perceived to be everyone's share of the pot.

99% of the people loose to some extent, the other 1%... well they wait for the heat to die down and give it another go.

Just my take on the story of course.