Warren Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway, is one of the world's most successful investment companies. Therefore, it might come as a surprise that a company owned by Berkshire Hathaway may have paid an acquisition price for another company that was five times what the company was worth. How did this happen? Jack Ewing explains in The New York Times article entitled "How Berkshire Hathaway May Have Been Snookered in Germany."

Instructions

Do an Internet search for the article and answer the following questions.

a. It appears that Wilhelm Schulz was in financial trouble prior to the acquisition. What steps did the company take to avoid bankruptcy? What fraudulent actions enabled the company to do this?

b. How did Commerzbank initially become aware that the Wilhelm Schulz acquisition might be a problem?

c. What were the alleged steps that Wilhelm Schulz employees took to inflate profits?