Post: #1

I present to RVF an interesting case about Brazilian man who went from being one of the richest (topped at #8) with a 34.5 billion net worth to losing it all, his low point was 100 million.

1 - Story

He learned about natural resources from his dad, a minerals executive, and applied his skills in the gold trade back in the 90s. Batista succeeded and went from slanging nuggets to selling gold mines. Eike added the suffix "X" to his company as it signifies "the multiplication of wealth". He had it all, money, bitches, and fame.

Batista married a playboy model, had two kids, and a lovely house with a great view of Rio. His project in Greece failed, and falling gold prices did not help his projects in Russia and the Czech Republic. He lost his fortune, not to mention he got divorced a few years later. Never marry a broad during your game.

The Brazilian economic boom was starting to take off in 202 and Batista engaged in new projects. He succeed at first, and then branched off to other things. Near the end he had project in hydroelectricity, ports, minerals (iron ore), and was branching off to oil.

Due to his success in past ventures, any fool wanting to make money in Brasil went to him. The same way anyone wanting to make bank in North Korea goes to Kim Jong Un. He took their money and started talking about all of these gran discoveries he was going to make off shore. To help bring in confidence he hired people from Brazil's state oil company. Soon enough, people bought his story and OGX (Batista's oil company) was making claims about possible extraction numbers. Fuck logic, pitch numbers was OGX's unofficial number. OGX paid twice and fourfold at times to show how sure they were about their claims, many competitors were startled.

Meanwhile, he started splurging again. He bought many homes, a Mercedes SLR parked in his living room, and partying every day. Unfortunately his son ran over and killed a person while driving his father's SLR. Eike Batista was the hype about Brazil's never ending empire. His own ego projected he would be the richest man in a few years and be worth 100 billion by 2020.

OGX's findings were not matching their claims. Many cautioned Bautista to stop making extragavant claims but he continued. When production began, it did not yield investor's desired results. From there it went into a free fall spiral. Batista had to sell virtually all of his assets and is trying to settle with his creditors. The Brazilian securities agency is also investigating him. Not much is known about him as he has vanished from the face of Brazil and is now the joke of the country (and of the Rustler's too).

TL;DR - Guy becomes rich, spends lavishly, goes broke, gets rich again, fucks up again.



2 - Questions:

Why didn't he save the first time he was making money?

Why mess up the second time if you knew what could happen?

Was Batista's ego too big and cashing checks his SLR couldn't cash?

Why do people in developing countries do this?

How can one prevent this from happening to them?

The original story can be found below:
Batista - Bloomsberg

P.S - I wonder how brasileros feel about this since many of them get instantly butt hurt when someone criticizes their country.

Post: #2

Why mess up the second time if you knew what could happen?
Batista thought he could strike and never fall again. He actually claims his net worth will be greater than 34B in a few years.

Was Batista's ego too big and cashing checks his SLR couldn't cash?
His ego was his downfall. I don't know but it's something about Brazilians and their sense of superiority due to their economic boom.

Why do people in developing countries do this?
People believe in their "rags to riches" story and think it will have a happy ending while living in a castle.

How can one prevent this from happening to them?
Setting a goal and once the goal is reached, bounce.

Post: #3

You can live in a castle fer sure with 100 million

Post: #4

He's still pulling plenty of bad bitches with 100 million.

Post: #5

I suspect that his $30 billion fortune a couple of years ago was hugely inflated due to mark-to-market accounting. The joke is on people who worship one single number (the "net worth" of an individual) rather than analyze carefully what assets and liabilities he has.

By the way, if you have an hour, watch Charlie Rose interviewing Eike in 2010.

Post: #6

True, he could still pull with 100 M that he has now. It seems his ego has been deeply hurt, judging from his disappearance.

Not to mention OGX still owes 30 billion in outstanding bonds. There's no way OGX is going to make an oil discovery that will solve their financial problems.

Post: #7

(10-04-2013 09:02 PM)Icarus Wrote:  I suspect that his $30 billion fortune a couple of years ago was hugely inflated due to mark-to-market accounting. The joke is on people who worship one single number (the "net worth" of an individual) rather than analyze carefully what assets and liabilities he has.

By the way, if you have an hour, watch Charlie Rose interviewing Eike in 2010.

Good point. I remember Alan Sugar (a famous businessman here in the UK) saying he could write a cheque for 100 million pounds there and then.

Before pointing out that alot of supposedly rich people couldn't do the same.

Post: #8

I still remember a couple of years ago Eike saying he would be the richest man on the planet. Ha, how the mighty have fallen.

Wouldn't mind the 100 mill though.

Post: #9

(10-04-2013 08:30 PM)Cattle Rustler Wrote:  Why do people in developing countries do this?
People believe in their "rags to riches" story and think it will have a happy ending while living in a castle.

Except he never really came from rags, his father was a minister. But yeah, super inflated ego and super inflated promises that couldn't be kept.

Post: #10

Would not bang the freakshow on his arm in that pic.