No one could accuse Eike Batista of lacking ambition. He got a good start in life, as the son of a former minister of mines and energy who had also run Vale, Brazil's biggest mining firm. By 2009 the value of the firms he had built up himself, in businesses ranging from oil and gas to hotel-keeping and entertainment, had made him Brazil's richest man. He reckoned it was only a matter of time before he became the world's wealthiest. But such ambitions led him to overextend himself. And now the wave of euphoria about Brazil's prospects, which helped convince investors to pour cash into his firms, has turned to doubt-especially after the huge street protests of recent days. Shareholders and lenders nervously await more bad news. Mr Batista's fortune has dwindled.
展开▼
