Rich man commits suicide - any non-BK theories

As this is "anything goes" and just passing by the forum (which seems to have been quite active since my leaving ), does anyone have a non-BK answer as to why this event happened :

German billionaire Adolf Merckle has committed suicide after his business empire ran into trouble in the global economic slowdown.

Even though this man has made losses, it's only a blip in his wealth as he's still rich. So why and how did suicide come into it?

I was asked this question and have not come up with a theory that is close to one dealing with "karma". Is there answer without mentioning "karma" ?

There is a saying that goes somewhere along the lines of, "there is no one as desperate as a millionaire down to his last 3 million".

Someone I knew that moved in such circles counseled me to the effect that beyond a certain level of wealth, it was not about the money any more but the power and prestige. Merckle ran up losses of about $540 million last year due to wrong-way bets on Volkswagen shares. If I lost 500,000,000 Dollars at poker last night, which is what the money markets are, I think I would feel pretty stupid and suicidal too and so I guess it was the loss of face and reputation. His confidence in his own powers must have been dented beyond repair.

He is said to have lost $1,000,000,000, his wealth being $9 billion. The world's 94th richest man. One could surmise that Adolf's identity was so bound up with the way his professional prowess was perceived. Like many of the super rich, he tried unsuccessfully to get the government to financially support his empire. The efforts met with a public backlash and ridicule. One German newspaper called him “The Billionaire With No Pockets.”

What interests me is that his companies only employed 100,000 ... how many individuals do you think could be classified as "employed" by the Brahma Kumaris? Maybe 50,000 (one in 20 of claimed followers)?

It gives one a good comparison of their scale of influence and responsibility.