Adolf Merckle, a German billionaire, threw himself in front a train after coming to terms with the fact that his business empire was crumbling. Although Mr. Merckle's business interests ranged from cement companies to pharmaceuticals, it was revealed in October that his VEM investment group had lost hundreds of millions of euros betting on the decline of Volkswagen stock. An unprecedented surge in the share price of Volkswagen stock in late October briefly made the German company the world's largest corporation in terms of market capitalization.
Just yesterday, Porsche increased its stake in Volkswagen to over 50%. The move was no surprise as Porsche officials said publicly in December that they planned to increase Porsche's stake once Volkswagen shares had returned to normal after their spectacular October run up. Porsche plans to continue buying up shares of Volkswagen until it reaches roughly 75% ownership.
blueguydotcom says:
07:31 AM, 01/ 7/09
That's just weird. More to this story than the fact he lost some cash.