Financial Loss SyndromeFinancial Loss Syndrome
On a cold evening in January of 2009, 74-year-old corporate titan Adolf Merckle drove to a railway embankment near his home in Germany and stepped in front of a moving train. Once, Merckle had been a billionaire. In 2007, Forbes estimated his fortune at $12.8 billion. But, as the global recession took hold in late 2008, his net worth nose-dived. Estimates put Merckle's losses at several billion. He
Lee S. Hausner, Douglas K. Freeman & Victoria Collins
On a cold evening in January of 2009, 74-year-old corporate titan Adolf Merckle drove to a railway embankment near his home in Germany and stepped in front of a moving train.
Once, Merckle had been a billionaire. In 2007, Forbes estimated his fortune at $12.8 billion. But, as the global recession took hold in late 2008, his net worth nose-dived. Estimates put Merckle's losses at several billion. He was forced to relinquish control of a family business that had been founded by his grandfather in 1881 and that he'd grown into Germany's largest pharmaceutical wholesaler.
Still, in December of 2008, Merckle was one of the wealthiest individuals in the world — with an estimated $9.8 billion. ...
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