Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista crumbled in
global billionaire rankings after one of his companies, the oil firm
OGX, lost more than 50 percent of its value this week in the Sao
Paulo Stock Exchange.
According to the consulting firm Economatica, Batista's seven companies listed in stock exchanges accumulated in June a loss of more than $10 billion. Throughout 2012 so far, he lost more than $15 billion, Economatica told Brazilian news website G1.
According to G1, this made Batista slip from the 14th to the 21st
place in Bloomberg's rankings in just two days.
Forbes magazine, which in March ranked the Brazilian seventh among
the world's wealthiest people, now puts him in a modest 46th place.
According to Forbes, his net worth has dropped dramatically, from $30 billion to $14.5 billion, making him "the year's
biggest loser."
Batista's troubles got worse Tuesday night, when OGX announced
that the production of its first oil wells in the Campos basin
amounts to 5,000 barrels a day, a third of the amount the markets had
expected. Over the next two days, the value of OGX stock fell by
close to 40 percent and also affected other firms in the same group.
