I like to post that picture of a python that tried to eat an alligator when Schaeffler's ill-timed purchase of Conti comes up. Always good for a laugh.
Schaeffler survived, but barely, and had Kurzarbeit not been a thing, it probably would have been a lot uglier. Kurzarbeit is a lot of why Germany came out of 2008/2009 in reasonably good shape. Better for pretty much everyone in an industry to be working 80% of the time in their current positions and getting 90% of their pay than for 20% of them to be out of work and struggling to make ends meet on unemployment - better for the workers, and better for their employers, who can turn around much more quickly when things get better.
Schaeffler survived, but barely, and had Kurzarbeit not been a thing, it probably would have been a lot uglier. Kurzarbeit is a lot of why Germany came out of 2008/2009 in reasonably good shape. Better for pretty much everyone in an industry to be working 80% of the time in their current positions and getting 90% of their pay than for 20% of them to be out of work and struggling to make ends meet on unemployment - better for the workers, and better for their employers, who can turn around much more quickly when things get better.