Eike Batista

Eike Fuhrken Batista da Silva (born 3 November 1956) is a Brazilian-German serial entrepreneur who made and lost a multi-billion dollar fortune in mining and oil and gas industries.

He engaged in a quest to promote Brazil's infrastructure with large-scale projects, such as the Porto do Açu.

He was chairman of Brazilian conglomerate EBX Group, which was formerly the parent company of five companies traded on the BOVESPA's Novo Mercado, a special segment of the São Paulo stock market.

These five companies were: OGX (oil and gas), MPX (energy), LLX (logistics), MMX (mining), and OSX (offshore services and equipment).

Nowadays, EBX advises new startup companies and tries to rebuild itself again.

Batista was the second of seven children of businessman Eliezer Batista, who was Minister of Mines and Energy in the João Goulart and Fernando Collor administrations and a former president of Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (now known simply as Vale), then wholly a state enterprise, between 1961–1964, and 1979–1986.

His mother, Jutta Fuhrken, was born in Germany and, from her, Batista says he learned self-esteem and discipline, attributes he considers crucial to his formation as an entrepreneur.

After spending his childhood in Brazil, Batista and his family moved to Europe when he was a teenager, due to his father's occupation.

They lived in Geneva, Düsseldorf and Brussels.

In 1974, he began to study metallurgical engineering at the University of Aachen in Germany.

When he was 18 years old, his parents returned to Brazil.

Batista remained abroad and began selling insurance policies door-to-door to make his living.

In interviews, he often mentions that the "stress" and the lessons learned from this experience were essential for his education.

Batista returned to Brazil in the early 1980s and focused his attention on the gold and diamond trades.

He established himself as a salesman, contacting producers in the Amazon area and buyers in large metropolitan centers in Brazil and Europe.

When he was 23 years old, he started a gold trading firm, called Autram Aurem, using the Inca Sun as the company trademark and symbol.

A year and a half later, the company had earned US$6 million.

He implemented the first mechanized alluvial gold mining plant in the Amazon, marking the beginning of the EBX Group.

At age 29, he became CEO of TVX Gold, a company listed on the Montreal Stock Exchange, initiating his relationship with global capital markets.

From 1980 to 2000, he created US$20 billion in value with the operation of eight gold mines in Brazil and Canada and a silver mine in Chile.

Between 1991 and 1996, the value of his company more than tripled.

Batista married the model Luma de Oliveira in 1991, and divorced her in 2004.

They had two boys, Olin and Thor.

In 2006, he covered the 220 nautical miles between Santos and Rio de Janeiro in 3h01m47s and beat the record for the course in his boat, the Spirit of Brazil.

Batista maintains an active digital life, with a personal site with articles, videos and news about his companies.

The digital channel that Batista has chosen as his primary means of personal communication is Twitter.

At the end of 2010, the magazine ranked Batista as the 58th most powerful person in the world, placing him as Brazil's most powerful person after the then-president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff.

In 2011, Batista released the book The Heart of the Matter (O X da Questão) which recounts his trajectory in the business world and offers tips on entrepreneurialism.

In 2011, Batista was listed by Forbes magazine as the 8th richest person in the world and the richest person in Brazil.

His wealth was at one time estimated at US$30 billion.

Batista was also featured in Bloomberg Markets magazine as the only Brazilian on the list of the 50 most influential people in global finance, published for the first time in September 2011.

The magazine focused on people “whose comments move markets; whose deals set the value of companies or securities; whose ideas and policies shape corporations, governments and economies”.

In early 2012, Batista had a net worth of US$35 billion, ranking him the seventh wealthiest person in the world, and the richest in Brazil.

By July 2013, his wealth had plummeted to $200 million due to his debts and his company's falling stock prices.

He later dated businesswoman and lawyer Flávia Sampaio for several years, with whom he had a third son in 2013, named Balder.

Batista enjoys running, swimming and practices marine sports.

In the 90s, he was the Brazilian, U.S. and World Champion in the Super Offshore Powerboat class.

Bloomberg reported in January 2014, that Batista "has a negative net worth."

Forbes and Folha de São Paulo quoted Batista in September 2014, stating that his net worth was –$1 billion.

Batista is currently under arrest and has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for bribing disgraced Rio de Janeiro governor Sérgio Cabral, in order to secure public contracts.