by Mike Meyer
Daily Pfennig
Can you imagine losing $32 billion in just a couple of years? This actually happened to Brazilian businessman Eike Batista.
He believed that growth in emerging markets, especially in China, would create a huge demand for all sorts of commodities. If that sounds familiar, it’s because that was the consensus back in 2012.
So, he built an empire around the sector. For instance, all of his companies were commodity-based businesses, including an oil driller, a mining company, an electricity producer and a port operator. His strategy worked brilliantly during the great bull market in commodities. In 2012, when he was worth $32 billion, he famously said, “I will be the world’s richest man.”