'Man of mystery' lost $500m on VW

German billionaire Adolf Merckle may be media shy, but he's not afraid to place big bets and make the headlines on the back of them.

Merckle, the world's 94th-richest person in 2008 according to Forbes magazine, incurred massive losses from wrong-way bets on Volkswagen shares, putting him under pressure to sell some assets or seek bridge loans.

Little is publicly known about the 74-year old industrialist, who lives in the southwest German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg and is said to enjoy skiing and mountain-climbing.