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Adolf Merckle, one of the world’s richest men, committed suicide yesterday by throwing himself under a train, Bloomberg reports. Financial difficulties, and particularly great losses he suffered on Volkswagen stock, are being cited as the key reason he ended his life: [Merckle's company] VEM was caught in a so-called short squeeze after betting Wolfsburg, Germany-based Volkswagen’s stock would fall. Merckle lost at least 500 million euros on the bets on VW stock, people familiar said on Nov. 18. VEM lost “low three-digit million euros” on VW stock, the company said in November. A “short squeeze” sounds inconspicuous enough; you wouldn’t...

German tycoon Adolf Merckle commits suicide 25 mins ago FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German billionaire Adolf Merckle, assailed by financial turmoil and struggling to salvage his business empire, has killed himself, his family said on Tuesday. "The desperate situation of his companies caused by the financial crisis, the uncertainties of the last few weeks and his powerlessness to act, have broken the passionate family entrepreneur and he took his own life," a family statement said. Prosecutors in the southern German town of Ulm, near Merckle's home, said the 74-year-old died when a train struck him late on Monday. There was no...

German Billionaire Commits Suicide After VW Losses In killing himself German billionaire Adolf Merckle has become the latest casualty of the global financial crisis, his family saying on Tuesday he was broken by the struggle to salvage their business empire. Merckle, who was the world's 94th-richest person in 2008 according to Forbes magazine, spent his life building a business conglomerate with about 100,000 employees. The empire was poised to come crashing down after his family made wrong-way bets on skyrocketing Volkswagen shares. The family has been under pressure to sell some assets or seek bridging loans and has been in...