Gottlieb Daimler had long been suffering from a heart condition. In winter 1892/93 he fell ill again and was sent to Florence in the spring to recuperate. Here he was reunited with Lina Hartmann, who he had previously met through friends in Cannstatt. His first wife, Emma, had died on 28 July 1889 and the urbane Lina Hartmann, 22 years his junior, made such an impression on him that he decided to marry her. The wedding took place on 8 July 1893 in Schwäbisch Hall.
Daimler's deteriorating heart condition started to have a detrimental effect on his handling of DMG. In 1893, he rejected an offer to acquire shares of DMG which would have guaranteed him a majority holding. This may well be due to doubts he had in the future prospects of the company. The growing tension between Daimler on the one side and Lorenz and Duttenhofer on the other eventually led to them effectively excluding Daimler as a shareholder after demanding the settlement of debts run up by DMG to the tune of 400,000 marks. They threatened Daimler with bankruptcy if he failed to do this and gave him only one other option: to sell them his stake in the company and the rights to his inventions at a price of 66,666 marks. In order to avert bankruptcy, Daimler reluctantly agreed. However, getting rid of Daimler did not bring the company any more luck. Technical progress evaporated as the balance sheets began to make increasingly depressing reading.
