I'm pretty sure you mean the attempted takeover of Volkswagen by Porsche in 2008, but what you're writing is pretty wrong and has very little to do with the di

I'm pretty sure you mean the attempted takeover of Volkswagen by Porsche in 2008, but what you're writing is pretty wrong and has very little to do with the discussion about futures. - There were no future contracts involved, at all. Options are a different thing. - Porsche didn't need to "corner the market", i.e. buy all VW stock. They only needed 75% to gain certain supermajority rights. - There wasn't really anyone "noticing anomalies" and misunderstanding them, or trying to "arbitrate" a "too expensive" stock. The VW stock price had been going down as a result of the financial crisis, and a number of traders had shorted it in the expectation that it would go down further. - Porsche actually lost big in the whole affair; they never reached the 75% because they did run out of money, and the loans they had to take on to do it eventually broke their back. In the end, they were acquired by VW, not the other way round.