A Millionaire's Death
(January 14th 2009) A German pharma tycoon has thrown himself in front of a train obscuring the future of his commercial empire, including 5,400 Ratiopharm employees in Germany and 24 other countries who are now shivering (and not just from the current cold wave!)... By Winfried Köppelle.
As a recently deceased corpse, Adolf Merckle was shown in a lap of luxury in stark contrast to his life as a penny-pinching billionaire. A press photo, published by AP, shows a precious wooden coffin (with Merckle's corpse inside) lying in a luxurious Mercedes Benz 600 limousine in Blaubeuren, Germany. Considering how Merckle the tycoon used to travel around in second class rail coaches or an old medium-sized rust bucket, the last trip of the Ratiopharm founder was in fact his most extravagant.
Adolf Merckle committed suicide eight days ago. The man with a fortune estimated by
Forbes at $12.8 billion (aka €9.5 billion) couldn't bear the medium-term consequences of his strikingly bad speculation on Volkswagen shares some weeks back. This share gambling presented Merckle with a loss of several hundred million euros and, ultimately, meant losing control of his entire economic empire.
Inherited wealth
Where did Merckle come from? His fortune was at least partly inherited since both his parents originated from wealthy families. The rest was lucky speculation and a good eye for opportunity. Starting his business in 1967, Merckle made a €9,5 billion fortune within a few decades and created a worldwide business network from a small chemical wholesale company with 80 employees. At the height of his success, he was one of the richest people in Germany, owning Germany's largest pharmaceutical wholesaler, Phoenix Pharmahandel, large parts of the cement company, HeidelbergCement, the snowcat manufacturer, Kässbohrer, a ski lift in the Kleinwalsertal (Austria), and many more investments and holdings.
Lab Times readers will probably know Merckle as the founder of the generic drug manufacturer, Ratiopharm (yielding a revenue of €1.8 billion in 2007 and employing 5,400 people).
In 2006, Merckle was the world's 44th richest person.
In 2008, however, Merckle made a fatal error in his financial judgement.
A disastrous decision
Last year, Merckle made a speculative investment believing that Volkswagen shares (from the German car manufacturer) would fall. Merckle, however, was mistaken; the VW papers went in the other direction, exploding in October 2008 from €200 to over €900 in less than two days. The billionaire suffered losses of hundreds of millions of euros and, having invested most of his fortune, became insolvent (following the VW disaster, Merckle could no longer meet the obligatory payments on his companies' debts). To get an interim credit from a 40-member banking syndicate, Merckle had to surrender control of his empire. As of January 2009, the German tycoon was an independent gentleman without any lordship.
On January 5th 2009, Adolf Merckle threw himself in front of a train near his hometown of Blaubeuren, Southern Germany. He skittered away, while his staffers at Ratiopharm and elsewhere face an uncertain future.
