29 October 2008

Today in Schadenfreude

Don't everyone weep at once. On the German markets hedge funds, described by some as "asset-stripping locusts", bet on VW stock falling last week but were caught out by the announcement the Porsche was taking over and had cornered about 75% of its much larger rival. Suddenly these funds faced ruin as they were bidding against each other for the remaining 5% of shares (about 20% are owned by the German state of Lower Saxony) and the price soared to in excess of €1000, four times the price last week. According to this article from The Guardian "some fund managers were reportedly in tears as they realised the scale of their losses". I am trying very, very hard to be sympathetic to their terrible predicament but am failing miserably. Does this make me less of a decent human being?

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