Made in Germany | Schaeffler

In the summer of 2008 German automotive supplier Schaeffler announced plans to take over its much larger rival Continental. It was a financially risky venture,only made possible with huge loans.Just a short time later Continental's share price fell sharply,diminishing the company's market value. Now Schaeffler finds itself with its back to the wall,the company is saddled with 20 billion euros of debt and the financial crisis leaves it little room to manouevre. Schaeffler has been forced to put 20,000 of its 30,000 employees on short time work. Workers are outraged and the firm's works committee has now asked the government for state aid. Our reporter Carmen Meyer reports on a company which had high-flying ambitions,but is now in freefall.

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