Economic Meltdown: German billionaire commits suicide
London, Jan.7: The Global recession caused a German billionaire to commit suicide. Adolf Merckle, a German businessman who lost a billion pounds in the financial crisis, has committed suicide.
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,
Jan
5
The
Telegraph
reports.
German
police
confirmed
that
a
suicide
note
had
been
found
and
said
'no
third
party
is
being
sought
in
conjunction
with
his
death'.
Merckle controlled the pharmaceutical group Ratiopharm, cement company Heidelberg Cement and one of Europe's biggest wholesale drug distributors, Phoenix. He also had an investment firm. 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 six billion pounds. The crash and his poor choice of betting on the German DAX in 2006 are thought to have dramatically cut that fortune.
ANI