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[00:00]
Simon Jack
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk.
[00:06]
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[00:32]
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[01:17]
Zing Singh
It's 2017 and a lawyer sits in front of his computer. Let's imagine a large wood paneled room befitting the legal counsel to two of the richest and most powerful men in Brazil.
[01:28]
Simon Jack
He finishes typing and hits send. He heads to the door, but something is nagging at the back of his mind. He returns to his computer and opens his email sent folder.
[01:39]
Zing Singh
The blood drains from his face. With horror, he realizes he attached the wrong audio file to his email. An email that was going directly to Brazil's federal prosecutor's office.
[01:51]
Simon Jack
The attachment was supposed to save his clients. Instead, his mistake will send them to jail.
[01:58]
Zing Singh
Welcome to Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Each episode we pick a billionaire and we find out how they made their money.
[02:04]
Simon Jack
We take them from zero to their first million and then from a million onto a billion.
[02:08]
Zing Singh
My name is Zing Singh and I'm a journalist, author and podcaster.
[02:11]
Simon Jack
And I'm Simon Jack. I'm the BBC's business editor.
[02:14]
Zing Singh
I have to say I've never sent the wrong email in quite the same way this lawyer did.
[02:19]
Simon Jack
I think I've replied to a group when I meant to reply to one person and have perhaps been unflattering about someone else on the group. But I've never a disastrous one like this.
[02:29]
Zing Singh
And not one that sent your clients to jail.
[02:32]
Simon Jack
No. Not yet anyway. This is the story of two Brazilian brothers, Wesley and Joeli Batista. They're 54 and 53, respectively. And each of them is worth $5.7 billion.
[02:46]
Zing Singh
They own a company called JBS, the biggest meat producer in the world. If you're vegan or vegetarian, maybe turn off now.
[02:53]
Simon Jack
Yes, this episode will involve the referencing of killing of a lot of animals, because JBS slaughters over 13 million animals a day. That is per year, 5 billion chickens, 53 million pigs, 27 million cows, and 8 million lambs. If you eat meat, you probably eat products made by jbs.
[03:14]
Zing Singh
And this is a meaty story in many ways, because this isn't just a story about Brazil's economic growth. The company controlled by the Batista brothers had to pay a $3.2 billion fine and spent time in jail in one of the biggest corruption scandals in history.
[03:31]
Simon Jack
But today, they are worth more money than ever. Their shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange. They can even be found at meetings in the White House. Probably worthy of a movie. So let us set the opening scenes.
[03:46]
Zing Singh
The Batista brothers story begins with their father, Jose batista Sobrino. In 1953, he opened a small butcher's in the Brazilian city of Annapolis. It had the capacity to slaughter a measly five animals a day. Now, Brazil in the 1950s was in a period of rapid modernization and industrial growth. And a new capital city, Brasilia, was constructed between 1956 to 1960 under the slogan 50 years progress in five. Jose was attracted by the tax incentives in that city. You get four years tax free for setting up there. So he moved there and he gave his company a big boost.
[04:22]
Simon Jack
And he supplied meat to the cafeterias at construction sites. Building this New Capital. In 1968, he expanded his business with the purchase of his first cattle processing unit, an abattoir, a slaughterhouse, in other words, in the Brazilian state of Goyas. Within two years, it had quadrupled its slaughter rate from 30 cattle per day to 120. And he named his company Free Boy in 1972. That is a combination of refrigerator and bull, which is exactly what they were selling. And that year, 1972, Wesley and Joe Wesley were both born. Only 10 months between them, they had four siblings, one older brother and three sisters.
[05:01]
Zing Singh
Now, as a country, Brazil was primed for the beef industry because of its vast grazing lands. And industrialization meant that BR were consuming so much more of it. And at this point, Brazil had the world's fourth largest supply of cattle, 105 million cows mooing all over the country. Only India, the Soviet Union and the US had more than that.
[05:23]
Simon Jack
Yeah, but sheer numbers mean Little in the beef industry. What's more important is the rate of slaughter. And that in 1972 was Brazil's biggest obstacle because its slaughter rate, these are. It's a horrible measure, this, isn't it?
[05:35]
Odoo Advertiser
For our country.
[05:36]
Simon Jack
The slaughter rate was only 12% of the herd each year, compared with 24% in Argentina and 40% in the United States. Why is that? Well, poor quality pastures meant cows had less nutrition, so they had to wait longer until they were fattened up. They had to wait until they were five years old to slaughter, compared with just 30 months in Argentina or 16 months in the United States.
[05:58]
Zing Singh
You'd think the beef industry would come up with a more PR friendly way of saying slaughter rate by now.
[06:02]
Simon Jack
Yeah, I think process or something is probably the word they would.
[06:05]
Zing Singh
Processing speed.
[06:06]
Simon Jack
Yeah.
[06:06]
Zing Singh
So the Brazilian government focused all their attention on turning beef into a profitable export, export industry. They moved cattle raising from the south, where it was cold in winter, to the Mato Grosso area of Brazil. This land was inexpensive, so breeding thousands of cattle was easier. And it was also conveniently located next door to the state of Goias, where the Batista business was located. The government was financing the modernization of packing plants and Brazilian labor costs were low. So meat packers were quickly able to compete with the US Especially when it came to products like tinned corned beef, hamburgers and pet food markets.
[06:42]
Simon Jack
And this story rem me of other ones we've seen where a business or a person finds themselves at a crossroads of what's going on in the country and are kind of in the right place at the right time. Because this was the beginning of the Brazilian beef boom and Batista family did very well. During the 1970s, Wesley and Joe Esley learned the business alongside their father. Although Wesley says his father was the only true hands on butcher in the family. That's nice. As teenagers, the boys bought and sold oxen. They negotiated with clients. They learned the inner workings of the industry. And Wesley. Wesley said their background was not academic. He said, we have the background of life. We have learned by Living. By 17, both had dropped out of high school to manage the various slaughterhouses
[07:24]
Zing Singh
the family owned through the 80s and 90s. Their oldest brother, Jose Jr. Led Freeboy. Jose Sr. Is still alive, but he took a step back from the business. And during this time, it seems Wesley and Joe Wesley oversaw this expansion. Wesley has said it's in our DNA to grow. According to their biographer, Raquel Landem, Wesley is a smart manager with a close eye for detail. Joe Wesley is the more Flamboyant, one of the brothers, and is a risk taker. She described him as very intelligent. He has no scruples. But we'll come to that later.
[07:56]
Simon Jack
Yeah, we will. And this is not a family keen on bureaucracy. They like action. They encourage efficiency, agility and decisiveness. And the brothers started expanding aggressively. Between 1993 and 2005, Free Boy acquired 12 other slaughterhouses and beef processes plants.
[08:13]
Zing Singh
Now, it's worth taking a moment here to understand the reasons why this expansion was possible. And one key fact was the growth of supermarket chains. These squeezed traditional local butchers out of business. And the local butchers had been the main clients of smaller local slaughterhouses. Also, supermarkets want a lot of meat, and they had more stringent sanitation and quality controls. These cost money and therefore easier for a large slaughterhouse to take on. And local slaughterhouses started to get into financial trouble and. And then conveniently, in would swoop the Batista brothers, offering to buy their business.
[08:47]
Simon Jack
And around the world, more people were eating more meat. Over this period, there was growing urbanization, higher incomes, better access to refrigeration, for example. So as well as processed beef, they began exporting fresh beef, primarily cuts not widely used in Brazil. In 2004, they relocated free Boys headquarters to Sao Paulo, centralizing all their operations. And in 2005, the eldest brother, Jose, after 20 years in charge, decided to explore a career in politics, which actually ultimately failed. But meanwhile, Wesley and Joe Esli, who are focused on, took over the business.
[09:23]
Zing Singh
It's very hard to find any records of their personal wealth at this point. We do know that in 2005, Free Boy had estimated revenues of just under $2 billion. But they were also plowing profits into their expansion. Moody's, which assigns credit ratings to companies, noted the negative free cash flow generation due to the company's strategy. So they may have done it earlier, but we think it's safe to say that by 2005, at the age of 33, now running free Boy, Wesley and Josli are millionaires.
[09:53]
Simon Jack
I think very safe to say that, because although that the negative free cash flow, that means that any profit they make, they're plowing back into the business. But of course, that has the effect of making the business worth more over time. So, yeah, definitely by age 33, they are millionaires. Now. Their first move was to expand their production outside of Brazil. And there was one key factor which would make that possible. There's something called the Brazilian Development Bank. It's also known as Bendes. It's like a national bank. It was founded in 1952, and it helps fund private companies to expand industry and infrastructure in the country. Lots of countries have these kind of development banks. But Bendes had just begun its national champion scheme, choosing several Brazilian companies, investing in them heavily to become national champions to turning them into successful multinational corporations. And Brazil, about 10 years ago, was named as one of the BRICS countries. That's Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. These are the fast growing, rapidly industrializing countries which have come to take up much more of the world economy than previously. So Brazil's in the economic fast lane at the moment.
[11:11]
Zing Singh
Well, the brothers were living life in the fast lane. They bought Swift Armor, Argentina's largest beef producer and exporter, for 200 million benders, gave them an $80 million loan to help pay for that. They continued expanding in the region, and by 2006, they were operating 21 beef plants in Brazil and five in Argentina, slaughtering around 20,000 cattle per day. Sorry vegetarians, but they wanted more, so they set their sights on the United States. However, they couldn't export to the US because the US's restrictive safety rules didn't accept meat from Brazil.
[11:44]
Simon Jack
Very interesting, that thing about the US not allowing beef into their market. Whenever you look at international trade, one of the key stumbling blocks at anything is whether you accept foreign food into your market. That's part of it's to do with sanitary requirements and health rules. The other is to protect your own farmers because it's. That's seen as very politically valuable. You know, if you look in the US at the moment, you know, the farming lobby, the rural communities often have a very powerful voice. So that's be part of it.
[12:15]
Zing Singh
So they needed to buy their way into that market. And to help finance Sisnix expansion, they held an ipo, the very first beef processing company to do so in Brazil. And in March 2007, they took JBS public evaluation, equivalent to $800 million at the time. This was the most successful debut in the history of its stock market. And to mark the occasion, Free Boy was renamed JBS after their father Jose's initials.
[12:42]
Simon Jack
So just a few months later, the Batista brothers made their biggest acquisitions, which finally gave them access to that U.S. meat market. They bought a company called Swift, which was the third largest beef and pork processor in the us. It's also the largest beef processor in Australia. It's got annual sales of $9 billion. But buying it cost them 1.4 billion. And a substantial portion of the financing for all of that came from Bindes, which bought around $500 million worth of new JBS shares. Keep your eye also on that development bank because I think that, you know, these are big loans that the Bindis is extending to them. And one would say outsize for a, for a company of their size at that time.
[13:23]
Zing Singh
If red flags and alarm bells aren't swinging around your head at the minute, they should be. Yeah, Swift was expensive, but it got them a global brand name with sales in markets that were mostly new to the company. Places like Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, China and Taiwan. And at the time, Joe Wesley announced to market analysts, with this acquisition, we become the largest beef company in the world.
[13:46]
Simon Jack
But they weren't nearly done yet. Over the next decade, JBS acquired more than 40 rivals on four continents.
[13:52]
Zing Singh
And.
[13:52]
Simon Jack
And when the US dollar was weaker, the brothers bought more American companies, including Smithfield Foods for half a billion dollars. And they're about to spend half a billion again to acquire a US company called National Beef. But the deal fell through after antitrust challenges. That's competition concerns from the U.S. justice Department, who claimed the takeover would result in lower prices paid to cattle suppliers and higher beef prices for consumers. This means that when a company gets too big, they start calling the shots on the terms. Which means that the suppliers of the beef get squeezed because you can't argue with this big colossus. And it means that they can also have control of the pricing of the end product. Competition authorities around the world keep an eye on this kind of stuff. We've seen it in every company. It goes from meat all the way to the biggest technology companies in the world.
[14:41]
Zing Singh
I also love the fact that when the US dollar was weaker, they went on a shopping spree. Yeah, very relatable. Except for most of us, we're just flying to New York and buying some new handbags or something. They're buying billion dollar meat companies.
[14:52]
Simon Jack
You say most of us. I'll listen to you.
[14:56]
Zing Singh
Well, I still remember the good old days when the American dollar was three to a pound.
[15:00]
Simon Jack
Yeah. Gosh, are you old enough to remember that?
[15:02]
Zing Singh
Am I old enough? Yeah, I do actually, because my parents wanted to go to New York, but we couldn't. Well, never mind.
[15:09]
Simon Jack
Okay.
[15:09]
Zing Singh
Well, the head of an association of independent ranchers said this is a David versus Goliath type of victory. Wesley, who's Goliath in this case, by the way, said that the deal falling through would allow JBS to, in his words, be in an enhanced liquidity position for future growth opportunities. That is, they could just spend that money elsewhere.
[15:29]
Simon Jack
We've got plenty of money. We'll go and find something else to spend it on.
[15:31]
Zing Singh
Exactly, exactly. Thank you very much. And instead they diversified into chicken. They bought a majority stake in US company Pilgrim's Pride after it went bankrupt for $800 million. And by 2011, the brothers responsible for 22% of the US beef supply.
[15:47]
Simon Jack
Wow. If you think how many burgers they sell in the US that's a lot of beef. By the way, are you watching the series Beef yet?
[15:54]
Zing Singh
No, not yet.
[15:55]
Simon Jack
It's completely unrelated. It's very good though. Anyway, at this point, they're throwing some serious money around. They're selling a lot of meat, but not enough to fund what was a $20 billion acquisition spree. How did they pay for it all? Well, they got nearly 5 billion off it from the Development Bank Bindes. By 2014, the Brazilian state was the major individual shareholder of the company, with nearly 35% of the total shares. So as I was saying earlier, that seems to be a very oversized share for a national development bank to hold a successful private company with the size and scale they are, you would think that they could go to commercial banks rather than use, in a sense, you know, a kind of development bank to get people on their feet. So that, that does look very unusual.
[16:42]
Zing Singh
The bank which was to create national champions of business has clearly created.
[16:47]
Simon Jack
Job done, I would say.
[16:48]
Zing Singh
Exactly.
[16:49]
Simon Jack
But let's check in on how rich they are at this point, because this is why they're on the list. From 2012, Forbes had included the Batista family in their billionaire list. But the family included up to 10 members, so there were no individual billionaires. In 2016, Forbes listed the six children, their father individually. Each was worth around US$890 million.
[17:10]
Zing Singh
So at this point, Wesley and Joe Wesley are very close to that billionaire status. But before we can get there, we need to look a little bit more closely about how they built this fortune. So far, we've been telling you the story that the Batista brothers told the world. But in 2017, we found out that wasn't quite the whole truth. And for that, we need to talk about a little something called Operation Car Wash.
[17:33]
Simon Jack
Yes, this is where the sizzle underneath that beef comes in. Operation Car Wash was a massive Brazilian anti corruption investigation. It began in 2014 with the investigation of a small car wash over money laundering. If you've seen Breaking Bad, you'll know how effective car washes can be at laundering money. But it went on to uncover a vast corruption scheme right at the heart of the Brazilian government. With lots of tentacles. It found large companies been paying bribes to politicians in exchange for contracts and political favors. A kind of a story as old as the hills.
[18:07]
Zing Singh
By 2016, the investigation had moved far beyond its original focus, and the Batista brothers became formal suspects. This could be very bad for them. They were still just in their mid-40s at that point. And the CEO of another company got a 19 year prison sentence. So in 2017, the brothers approached Brazil's Prosecutor General, offering to trade all the evidence they'd collected in exchange for immunity.
[18:31]
Simon Jack
Yeah, and the brothers revealed information about how they themselves had bribed high ranking officials in exchange for favors and contracts. Things like resolving tax matters easily freeing up loans. They even claimed they had bribed three Brazilian presidents, all of whom, by the way, denied this. In total, the brothers said they'd spent around $200 million in bribes than any 1900 politicians.
[18:55]
Zing Singh
Wow, that is a lot of people to send bribes to. Now, the brothers alleged that some bribes would go to offshore accounts, and most of the money was funded into political campaigns. JBS and other companies under the umbrella holding company were the biggest campaign contributors in the 2014 Brazilian elections. In videos of his testimony, Josli said that the company's extreme growth could not have happened without these bribes, claiming it wouldn't have worked, it wouldn't have been so fast.
[19:21]
Simon Jack
We had to do it.
[19:22]
Zing Singh
We had. We simply had to pay 1900 politicians.
[19:26]
Simon Jack
Joe Esli also recounted how a decade long scheme between JBS and Brazil's National Bank Bind came about. It started in a 2005 meeting at the bank's headquarters with Guido Mantega, who served as the president of Bindes for two years before taking over as Brazil's finance minister between 2006 and 2014. And Joesli alleged that with Guido's blessing, JBS started looking for opportunities abroad for
[19:52]
Zing Singh
that first international purchase, Swift Armor in Argentina. Remember them? Bendis lent the company $80 million. Joe Wesley alleged that the Batistas paid 4% of that value, 3.2 million, as a bribe to an associate of Guido. The brothers then claimed to have continued paying kickbacks to that associate until 2009, when they alleged they started negotiating directly with Guido himself.
[20:17]
Simon Jack
Yeah. And in the days after the public found out about JBS's corruption scandal, Joesli started speaking publicly. He told a journalist it was the rule of the game. And what's most important, corruption was on the upper floor with the authorities. And he sent an open letter apologizing for participating in this scheme. But he's also Placed some blame on Brazil's corrupt system, saying, in other countries outside Brazil, we were able to expand our business without violating ethical values.
[20:42]
Zing Singh
So much for being the national champion of business. Well, Benders has denied allegations of corruption and bribery, citing an independent investigation at the time that found no evidence. And Guido? Well, he was arrested but almost immediately released due to his wife's illness. He faced further legal action, but he has denied all allegations and didn't end up with a major conviction. But he wasn't the last politician to be implicated by the brothers.
[21:07]
Simon Jack
Nope. As part of their testimony, the brothers claim to have bribed the sitting Brazilian president Michel Temer with bribes worth a total of $4.6 million. Joely even wore a wire to secretly record their conversation. In the tape, the president can be heard discussing Joe Esli giving a bribe to another politician on Tamar's behalf. So what happened to that president? He denied wrongdoing and refused to resign. There were two failed attempts to impeach him. When he left office in 2019, he was arrested as part of Operation Car Wash, but then was quickly released. He's continued to deny all allegations back
[21:43]
Zing Singh
to the Batista brothers. The plea deal offered them immunity from prosecution on corruption charges. Additionally, to settle the bribery charges, the company controlled by the Batista brothers had to pay a record breaking $3.2 billion fine to the Brazilian authorities. Alth so this was over 25 years, but there's not one, but two unbelievable twists to the story. First, and this is unbelievable, Joe Wesley's lawyer attached the wrong audio recording to his email to the prosecutor's office. We've recounted that at the start of the episode. Instead of the wire recording of President Tamar, the audio the lawyer sent was a conversation between Joe Wesley and Ricardo Saud, an executive of JBS's holding company.
[22:26]
Simon Jack
So they're trying to dump Temer in it. In. In the process, the lawyer dumps them right in the soup. Because in the four hour tape, Joesli seems to admit that he hid key information from the prosecutors. And they discuss ways they might be able to influence Brazil's chief prosecutor on the terms of the plea deal. Joe Esli and Ricardo sound relaxed. They're laughing. Joe ESLI is heard saying, with a jewel in their crown, we're going to come out of this as everyone's friends and we're not going to be arrested. Within days of the email being sent, Joesli and Ricardo turned themselves into the police. Their lawyers denied any breach of the plea agreement, insisting that both men had fully complied with their corporation obligations. I would say, bad day at the office for those lawyers.
[23:08]
Zing Singh
I mean, if you were the lawyer, you'd sort of dread waking up finding yourself in the back of a van with a bunch of pigs about to be sent to the slaughter. It's the kind of mistake that costs you your career, if not your life.
[23:19]
Simon Jack
It would make, as we were saying, would make a great movie, wouldn't it? And you know, the short lived screen presence of this lawyer would be quite a nice little cameo watching their face when they realized what they'd done. I don't think history relates what actually happened to this lawyer so well, you know, if anyone knows.
[23:35]
Zing Singh
Yeah, we can only hope they're alive and well, wherever they are. For the second twist, let's rewind a few days to the day that Joe Wesley's secret recording with President Tamar, the one that the lawyer was meant to attach to that email, went public. And this was when the news broke about the corruption within Brazil's meat industry. That day, 17 May 2017, became known in the Brazilian financial market as Joesli Day. The day after Joesli Day, JBS's stock plummeted. The fall was so dramatic that share trading on the Brazilian stock market was briefly suspended. With the meat industry so important to the country, the Brazilian stock market plunged nearly 9%, the worst collapse in nine years.
[24:17]
Simon Jack
Ouch. Quick note on share trading being suspended. They have circuit breakers sometimes, so if something starts falling really, really fast, usually around nine or 10, they will suspend trading in it so the market can regroup and you have an orderly market so people can just take a breath. And it's really important in current market conditions because often you have basically algorithms trading shares and they are primed usually to follow the momentum. So once stock starts falling really quickly, the algorithms notice it and they start selling too. And you get this combined effect and basically it can enter total chaos in market conditions. So you have these circuit breakers where basically if it goes down a certain level, it'll cut it off, off. You'll close share trading. So everyone can just gather themselves, the algorithms can take a break and, and the traders can take a break and everyone go, okay, rather than panic, let's try and figure out what this is worth and what the situation really warrants. That's how share trading and suspension works, Right?
[25:13]
Zing Singh
So it's basically to stop a massive panic attack and mass hysteria from taking.
[25:17]
Simon Jack
Exactly. But remember, the brothers knew this bad news was coming. They knew they were about to share the TAM tape. So it's alleged that in the weeks before, the brothers got ahead of this and sold $90 million worth of JBS stock, thereby avoiding, of course, the 30% fall in the company share price. Now that would be considered insider trading. So Wesley was also arrested just three days after his younger brother, although the
[25:44]
Zing Singh
brothers always maintained that the transactions were legitimate business operations rather than insider trading.
[25:50]
Simon Jack
Add together the alleged insider trading, the accidental tape which seemed to show obstruction of justice, and the brothers spent about six months in jail in a Sao Paulo detention center before being released into house arrest. Like many others charged under Operation Car Wash, the case remained unresolved for years.
[26:08]
Zing Singh
Well, what impact did the scandal ultimately have on JBS? On Joe Wesley's release from prison, JBS shares jumped 3.6%, and there was a boom in the beef industry due to a huge surge in demand from China. Their Brazilian profits soared nearly 116% in the first quarter of 2019. And that year, Wesley and Joe Wesley both made their debut on Forbes billionaire list worth $1.3 billion each.
[26:36]
Simon Jack
So a bit of time inside didn't seem to harm their business prospects.
[26:40]
Zing Singh
Definitely didn't dent their fortune.
[26:57]
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Simon Jack
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[27:28]
Zing Singh
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Simon Jack
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[27:36]
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[28:47]
Zing Singh
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[29:22]
Simon Jack
So they're billionaires. Let's go beyond a billion For a few years, the brothers were banned from holding management positions at the holding company of JBL. But Covid intervened and changed all of that. In 2020, a Brazilian judge lifted the ban. It was seen as essential the brothers returned during the pandemic, given that JBS supplied 25% of Brazil's food market and employed 260,000 workers by this point. So they're too valuable to leave out of the boardroom. Then in 2023, the Brazilian securities and Exchange Commission, this is the financial police, acquitted the brothers of charges of insider trading. And in 2024, they officially rejoined the board of JBS, still to this day, the world's largest meat company. It's got more than $77 billion in annual revenue, 2 billion in net income, with a presence of nearly every country in the world.
[30:15]
Zing Singh
And it is a good time to be in the meat business. After declining consumption rates in the west due to rising veganism and vegetarianism, meat is now back in a big way. We are now lobbied from all angles about having to eat more protein, although a protein deficit is actually very unusual in a developed country. In 2025, Wesley said that the growing use of GLP1 weight loss drugs could be driving growing demand for protein because users are advised to eat plenty of it to retain muscle density. Speaking at Rothschild's consumer conference, he said, in the past the doctor said you should not eat too many eggs, you should not eat too much protein. Now it's the other way around.
[30:53]
Simon Jack
So fascinating. They've benefited in the first stage from the desire to eat more meat protein in the developing world, particularly in China. So they rode that wave. Now they're raiding a different wave, which is that if you are going to eat make it protein dense as weight loss drugs become more prevalent and diets change.
[31:10]
Zing Singh
Exactly. God, if you're a vegetarian listening to this, you must be hanging your head in your hands right now.
[31:16]
Simon Jack
So the brothers are well and truly back, but of Course, they want to get bigger. For a long time, JBS had been prevented from listing on the New York Stock Exchange, if you like. This is the. The Mecca of capitalism. This is where you want your shares listed if you're a big company. They've been refused a decade by the U.S. securities and Exchange Commission, by regulators there, and they've been opposed on both sides of the aisle, the political aisle in the US Congress. And there's also a US Advocacy group literally named Ban the Batistas.
[31:44]
Zing Singh
But the appetite for the Batistas meat business changed during Trump's second presidency. In 2025, they finally got SEC approval. And this came just two days after it was revealed in a public filing with the Federal Election Commission that the largest donor to the Trump inaugural committee was JBS's subsidiary, Pilgrim's Pride. It was a $5 million donation. That makes it five times larger than the donations from Amazon, Meta, Uber, Nvidia and Microsoft, which each gave $1 million.
[32:16]
Simon Jack
Wow, that's amazing. So their donation was the same as Amazon, Meta, Uber, Nvidia, and Microsoft combined. Now, the JBS denies there's any quid pro quo going on here. A spokesman said no company has control over the timing of when Inaugural Committee donation contributions are publicized. And the JBS listing has been underway approximately two years. The company has internal controls and compliance procedures in place to ensure that all political contributions are made in a transparent and ethical manner and in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Statement ends. A spokesperson for Trump's inaugural committee said the President greatly appreciated his supporters and donors, but he is not bought by anyone. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.
[32:56]
Zing Singh
Well, in June 2025, JBS made their big debut on the New York Stock Exchange. The brothers are the largest shareholders of JBS through their holding company. And when JBS was listed, the net worth of Wesley and Joe Wesley immediately increased by an estimated $200 million each. Well, now it's time to score the Batista brothers on our billionaire categories. Wealth, controversy, power, legacy. We rate all our billionaires on this scale from a range of 0 to 10. So let's start with, with wealth.
[33:31]
Simon Jack
Well, currently, each worth $5.7 billion, which is a lot of money. It makes them around 750th in our list of billionaires today. Coming from a developing country like Brazil, that's obviously a very big number. So I would give them a solid. Give them a 4.
[33:48]
Zing Singh
Actually, we don't have that much information about how they like to spend it. And we do like ranking our billionaires higher if they you know, buy flash cars or private islands, for instance. So, yeah, I would say 4 out of 10 spend your money a bit more. Flagrantly.
[34:03]
Simon Jack
Yeah, I imagine they may well do, but we just don't have the details. Okay, so that's for each on that controversy. Well, we've, you know, we've spoken quite a bit about that so far, but we should also talk about some of the controversies related to how the meat is actually made, processed, slaughtered, etc. There've been some child labor accusations. In 2025, JBS agreed to pay $4 million after US investigators found that children as young as 13 were working overnight night cleaning shifts at the abattoirs in states including Colorado, Minnesota and Nebraska. So this is in the US Mostly from Central America themselves. The children were hired through an outside sanitation company. They worked with chemicals, sometimes showing up to school with burns, and washed hazardous tools.
[34:47]
Zing Singh
In a statement, JBS said that it stopped using these staffing agencies to fill sanitation shifts and hoped that the money would provide valuable resources to children in need. But these allegations of labor violations don't end there because in 2017, an investigation found JBS had bought beef from a farm that was under investigation by Brazilian prosecutors for using workers in conditions described as being like modern day slavery. This actually had repercussions in the United Kingdom because a supermarket chain called Waitrose then pulled JBS supplied corned beef off the shelves. Following the story.
[35:23]
Simon Jack
Yeah, JBS said it immediately stopped buying beef in the farm in question following the police raids. And their quote does not buy cattle from any farms which have any association with slave labor as listed by the Brazilian. And I think we have to have a mention also in terms of animal welfare as well.
[35:39]
Zing Singh
Yes, obviously the meat industry has huge issues of animal welfare. In 2017, a JBS investigation by the Humane Society of the United States claimed undercover researchers had seen chickens being punched and beaten with iron rods at a farm and an abattoir contracted to Pilgrim's Pride, which is one of JBS's subsidiaries. And in 2018, another animal rights group, Mercy for Animals, released video footage that said it showed workers at JBS supplier beating piglets and ripping off their testicles without anesthesia. I mean, it all makes your stomach churn a little bit.
[36:13]
Simon Jack
Yeah. JBS said in a statement that it suspended shipments from that Pixar Spire site and had started an investigation, and it did not condone or participate in any type of animal abuse. Pilgrim's Pride also launched an investigation suspending supply from at least one of those farms.
[36:28]
Zing Singh
I mean, I feel like, this category could go on and on.
[36:31]
Simon Jack
Yeah.
[36:31]
Zing Singh
But I think we probably do also need to talk about the effect of rearing beef on the environment, because beef production is the primary driver of deforestation in the world. JBS has been repeatedly accused of buying cattle raised on illegally deforested Amazon land.
[36:48]
Whole Foods Market Advertiser
Yeah.
[36:49]
Simon Jack
In 2017, it was fined $7.7 million by Brazil's Environmental regulator for buying cattle from ranchers operating on restricted land.
[36:57]
Zing Singh
JBS said 99.9% of its cattle purchases meet its socio environmental criteria. And it also said it was working to implement a new procedure to cover all links in the supply chain. So, I mean, we've not had a bumper controversy.
[37:11]
Simon Jack
And also. And other people will point out that, you know, beef is a very inefficient way of delivering protein in terms of, you know, methane emissions and all that stuff, both on land use, animal treatment, environmental grounds, child welfare. There's plenty to go out here. I mean, they're gonna have to score pretty highly. And that's on top of a major bribery scandal as well. I think. I think they scored pretty high for me on the controversy stakes.
[37:37]
Zing Singh
I mean, I feel like without the bribery scandal, they would already score pretty high. But with that bribery scandal and it being one of the biggest corruption scandals in Brazilian history, if not the biggest, I think it's got to be a nine out of ten.
[37:50]
Simon Jack
Yeah, definitely a nine. I mean, it's possibly okay. Yeah, a nine. Let's, you know, let's call it a nine.
[37:56]
Zing Singh
Let's move on to power.
[37:58]
Simon Jack
Yes. Well, one of the tests we often do for power is that, can you bring up the White House and talk to the President? And I think the answer to that is I'm not sure he's going to take every call straight off the bat, but he definitely has access. In 2025, Joe Esli met privately with President Trump. The meeting came a few weeks after the White House imposed 50% tariffs on most Brazilian imports. That was entirely eliminated. Mainly, you know, the US Will say, is because there's a lot of appetite for beef and you don't want to push up prices to consumers when you're importing a lot of beef. And bear in mind, Brazilian business leaders have been lobbying the US Administration very hard to ease those tariffs. And one of the other four, I'm doing myself a disservice saying this because I work really hard to bring those tariffs down, but it was 99% Batista.
[38:44]
Zing Singh
Wow. That is quite the observation of your rival's power.
[38:47]
Simon Jack
Yeah. Important politically as well.
[38:49]
Zing Singh
Well, Joeli has also been credited as a major force between a rapprochement between Trump and the Brazilian president, Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva. He played a key role during the US operation in Venezuela, serving as an unofficial Trump emissary.
[39:04]
Simon Jack
Yeah, he shuttled between Washington D.C. and Caracas, meeting with Venezuela's interim before and after he met with U.S. officials.
[39:13]
Zing Singh
But JBS's holding company said Joeli Batista is not a representative of any government.
[39:19]
Simon Jack
And even within Brazil, since Operation Car Wash and the scandal there, they've been regaining political clout, including appearing alongside President Lula at public events. So it seems they've managed to be rehabilitated politically.
[39:32]
Zing Singh
I mean, it is quite the journey from a plea deal with federal prosecutors to standing next to your country's president and talking to the President of the United States. Yeah, that's quite the resurrection. I think these guys score pretty high for me.
[39:45]
Simon Jack
Yeah, for sure. Both within Brazil and on the wider stage. I'm going to give them possibly I'm going to give them a 7o, I'm
[39:54]
Zing Singh
going to go 1 higher and say an 8 out of 10 because I think it's just something about the fact that they were able to come back from that huge corruption scandal to probably even greater levels of power than before. That's pretty impressive.
[40:09]
Simon Jack
Yeah. And legacy, what will they be remembered for? I mean, I suppose this kind of large scale, industrial scale farming is something we've seen across the world. They certainly revolutionized the food industry in Brazil, made Brazil a massive, major force in food supply. I mean, they will go down for better or worse as kind of folk heroes in terms of Brazilian businessmen, I
[40:32]
Zing Singh
think, and absolute villains if you're a vegetarian or vegan. Listening to this.
[40:35]
Simon Jack
Yeah. Billions of dead animals.
[40:36]
Zing Singh
Billions and billions of dead animals. What was that stat you were talking about earlier?
[40:41]
Simon Jack
Something along the lines of if we killed as many people as we do animals, the human race would only last a couple of weeks.
[40:49]
Zing Singh
God. I mean, that really does put it all into position.
[40:51]
Simon Jack
We'll have our producers check that for accuracy, but I think that's probably about right.
[40:55]
Zing Singh
I think their legacy will be one of how in our current post shame era, you can have probably some of the worst things happen to you as a businessman, as someone who leads a company company and if you maneuver your way right, you can just make a comeback.
[41:11]
Simon Jack
Yeah, yeah, I agree. Well, that's not a particularly salutary lesson I don't think, to learn. Well, it is a salutary lesson. It's not a very edifying lesson.
[41:19]
Zing Singh
It's true. I think for that I've got to give them, I think, an 8 out of 10. If you run a company where almost everyone in the world has probably eaten your meat, I think that makes you score very highly indeed in this category.
[41:32]
Simon Jack
Okay, Legacy.
[41:33]
Zing Singh
Eight from me, eight from you and eight from me.
[41:36]
Simon Jack
So the question is, are they good, bad or just another two billionaires? What do you think?
[41:41]
Zing Singh
Email goodbadbillionairebc.com or drop us a text or WhatsApp to 001-917-686-1176 and tell us what you think.
[41:50]
Simon Jack
And don't forget to include your name as we may well read out your message on a future episode.
[41:59]
Zing Singh
So we're taking a break for a few weeks, but don't worry, we'll be back with even more billionaires for you to get your teeth into. And maybe they be a few more billionaires in the world by then.
[42:07]
Simon Jack
There probably will be. Thank you everyone for listening. In the meantime, do keep getting in touch. We've had some great ideas on people we should cover on Good Bad Billionaire.
[42:15]
Zing Singh
We're always open for suggestions, so listen up in September to see if any of your suggestions actually made the airwaves. Good Bad Billionaire is a BBC World Service podcast produced by Hannah Hufford. The researcher is Hannah Ramazani, the answer editor is Paul Smith, and it's a
[42:32]
Simon Jack
BBC Studios production for the BBC World Service. The senior Commissioning producer is Sarah Green and the Commissioning Editor is John Manelle. I cashed out my entire 401k thinking someone stole my identity.
[43:01]
Zing Singh
A fake email cost me my dream home. After I sent my personal information to
[43:04]
Simon Jack
a scammer, my AI agent wired thousands to an account I'd never seen.
[43:09]
Gen Digital Advertiser
When billions of people feel unsafe, that's no longer a security problem, it's an economic one. At Gen, we're building the trust layer for a more fearless planet with products and technologies from our global brands, Norton LA, LifeLock, Avast and Money Lion. See it in action at gendigital. Com.

Summary6 min read

Good Bad Billionaire – The Batista Brothers: Meat and Money

BBC World Service | August 3, 2026
Hosts: Simon Jack (BBC Business Editor) & Zing Tsjeng (Journalist, Author)

Overview

In this episode, Simon Jack and Zing Tsjeng investigate the spectacular rise (and many controversies) of the Batista brothers, Wesley and Joesley, owners of JBS—the world’s largest meat-producing company. The duo unpacks the brothers’ journey from a small-town butcher's sons to multi-billionaires, their trailblazing expansion, Brazil’s beef boom, and a web of corruption that led them to jail and back. The hosts critically assess the Batistas’ wealth, influence, global impact, and scandals, ultimately asking: are they good, bad, or just another pair of billionaires?

Episode Structure

1. The Accidental Email: A Lawyer’s Catastrophic Blunder

[01:17]

The episode opens with the story of a critical mistake: a lawyer representing the Batista brothers accidentally sends the wrong audio file to Brazilian federal prosecutors, exposing the brothers’ deep involvement in corruption and ultimately sending them to jail.
Quote:
“The blood drains from his face. With horror, he realizes he attached the wrong audio file... His mistake will send them to jail.” – Zing Tsjeng [01:39]

2. Origins: The Butcher Shop to Billionaire Pipeline

[03:45]

The Batista story starts with their father, José Batista Sobrinho, who opened a small butcher’s shop in 1953 in Annapolis, Brazil.
Leveraging tax breaks and catering to massive construction projects in Brasília, the business grows rapidly, eventually acquiring abattoirs and founding 'Free Boy'—later renamed JBS in 2007.
Economic context: Brazil’s modernization, explosion in urban meat consumption, and expansion into new regions via government incentives.
Quote:
“[The brothers] learned by Living. By 17, both had dropped out of high school to manage the various slaughterhouses the family owned.” – Simon Jack [07:10]

3. Aggressive Expansion and Supermarket Power Plays

[08:13]

Expansion in the ‘90s/2000s fueled by the decline of small butchers and the rise of supermarket chains, which favor large, scalable, and standardized suppliers.
Free Boy (eventually JBS) acquires rivals, becomes a regional giant.
Wealth checkpoint: By 2005, the brothers are likely millionaires, though most profit is rolled back into expansion.

4. National Champions: State-Backed Global Takeover

[09:52]

Investment from Brazil’s Development Bank (BNDES) enables the brothers to execute massive international expansion.
JBS IPOs in 2007, then swiftly buys Swift (a major US beef/pork/lamb player) and dozens of other global competitors.
“The most successful debut in the history of its stock market.” – Zing Tsjeng [12:16]
Red flags: Outsize loans from BNDES to JBS stir controversy about crony capitalism.

5. Billionaire Status—and the First Fall

[16:48]

By 2012, Forbes counts the Batistas' combined family net worth in the billions, though no individual is yet a billionaire.
The brothers’ empire seems unstoppable—until Operation Car Wash uncovers massive corruption.

6. Operation Car Wash: Corruption, Bribes & Immunity Deals

[17:33]

The meat industry is swept into a nationwide corruption probe.
The Batistas admit to systematically bribing politicians, including three former presidents, to secure loans, influence legislation, and accelerate JBS’s expansion.
Quote:
“In videos of his testimony, Joesley said that the company’s extreme growth could not have happened without these bribes, claiming ‘it wouldn’t have worked, it wouldn’t have been so fast.’” – Zing Tsjeng [19:12]
“We simply had to pay 1,900 politicians.” – Simon Jack, paraphrasing Joesley [19:21]
$3.2 billion fine—the largest in Brazilian history—levied against JBS.
Joesley’s lawyer’s blunder (sending a candid, damaging audio recording) sabotages their plea deal, leading to jail time for both brothers.

7. Markets Meltdown, Jail Time, and a Quick Comeback

[23:35]

The email leak precipitates “Joesley Day,” the biggest market crash in nearly a decade; JBS stock falls 30%.
The brothers accused of insider trading after allegedly unloading $90 million in stock before the news broke.
They serve six months in jail before being released to house arrest, yet the business rallies: JBS’s profits soar amid increased Chinese demand, and by 2019, Wesley and Joesley are both Forbes-listed billionaires.

8. Reinvention and Indestructibility

[29:21]

In 2020, with COVID-19 threatening food supplies, a judge lifts a ban on the brothers holding management positions. By 2024, they’ve officially rejoined the JBS board.
The company records $77 billion in annual revenue and $2 billion in net income, employing 260,000 people worldwide.
Quote:
“So they’re too valuable to leave out of the boardroom.” – Simon Jack [29:54]

9. Changing Diets: New Demand, New Controversies

[30:14]

The global protein boom: dietary trends (like those driven by popular weight-loss drugs) feed surging demand for meat.
The Batistas pivot—again—to ride new global consumption waves.

10. Breaking into the U.S. Stock Market—Via Politics

[31:15]

The Batistas finally achieve a long-standing ambition—listing JBS on the NYSE in 2025 after years of U.S. regulatory blockade.
This comes days after Pilgrim’s Pride, their subsidiary, is revealed as the largest donor to Trump’s second inaugural committee ($5M, dwarfing donations from Big Tech leaders).
Quote:
“Their donation was the same as Amazon, Meta, Uber, Nvidia, and Microsoft combined.” – Simon Jack [32:15]
JBS denies any direct link between their political donations and regulatory fortunes.
Going public in New York instantly boosts each brother’s net worth by $200 million.

11. The Hosts’ Scorecard: Wealth, Power, Controversy, Legacy

(Category scores given live)

Wealth:
Each brother now worth $5.7 billion. Hosts score: 4 out of 10 (wealth is significant, but less visible extravagance).
- “Spend your money a bit more flagrantly.” – Zing Tsjeng [33:48]
Controversy:
Child labor scandals (kids as young as 13 cleaning abattoirs); links to suppliers with slave-like labor and severe animal abuse; deforestation accusations; the record-setting bribery scheme.
- “Without the bribery scandal, they would already score pretty high.” – Zing Tsjeng [37:37]
- Score: 9 out of 10
Power:
Unparalleled access to U.S. and Brazilian political establishments; personally meeting Trump; mitigating tariffs; influencing cross-continental diplomacy.
- “He definitely has access” (re: White House connections). – Simon Jack [37:57]
- Score: Simon: 7, Zing: 8 out of 10
Legacy:
Revolutionized the meat industry; made Brazil a protein superpower. Also infamous for corruption, labor, animal, and environmental scandals.
- “If you’re a vegetarian... they’re absolute villains.” – Zing Tsjeng [40:31]
- “If we killed as many people as we do animals, the human race would only last a couple of weeks.” – Simon Jack [40:41]
- Score: 8 out of 10 each

Notable Quotes & Moments

“It’s in our DNA to grow.” – Wesley Batista, via biographer [07:36]
“It was the rule of the game… corruption was on the upper floor with the authorities.” – Joe Wesley (on bribery) [20:16]
“With a jewel in their crown, we’re going to come out of this as everyone’s friends and we’re not going to be arrested.” – Secret recording, describing the brothers’ confidence before the plea deal collapse [22:44]
“They will go down for better or worse as kind of folk heroes in terms of Brazilian businessmen, and absolute villains if you’re a vegetarian or vegan.” – Zing Tsjeng [40:31]
“Their legacy will be one of how in our current post-shame era, you can have probably some of the worst things happen to you as a businessman... and if you maneuver your way right, you can just make a comeback.” – Zing Tsjeng [40:55]

Timestamps for Key Segments

Accidental email & corruption reveal: [01:17]–[02:00]
Family business origins & expansion: [03:45]–[08:13]
State-backed growth & global takeovers: [09:52]–[13:51]
Operation Car Wash & bribery exposed: [17:33]–[24:17]
Joesley Day & market crash: [23:35]–[25:16]
Jail, comeback & billionaire status secured: [25:50]–[26:40]
2020s: Regained power, NYSE listing: [29:21]–[32:56]
Scoring on wealth, controversy, power & legacy: [33:30]–[41:31]

Conclusion & Verdict

The Batista brothers embody the paradox of the modern billionaire: ruthless ambition, spectacular success, and a catalogue of scandals—yet remarkably resilient and, ultimately, still embraced (even if uncomfortably) on the world business stage. Are they “good, bad, or just another billionaire”? The hosts leave it to listeners to decide, inviting feedback for future discussions.

To share your verdict (good, bad, or just another billionaire):
Email: goodbadbillionaire@bbc.com
Text/WhatsApp: +1 (917) 686-1176

Loading summary

Transcript150 lines

[00:00]
Simon Jack
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk.
[00:06]
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[00:32]
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[01:17]
Zing Singh
It's 2017 and a lawyer sits in front of his computer. Let's imagine a large wood paneled room befitting the legal counsel to two of the richest and most powerful men in Brazil.
[01:28]
Simon Jack
He finishes typing and hits send. He heads to the door, but something is nagging at the back of his mind. He returns to his computer and opens his email sent folder.
[01:39]
Zing Singh
The blood drains from his face. With horror, he realizes he attached the wrong audio file to his email. An email that was going directly to Brazil's federal prosecutor's office.
[01:51]
Simon Jack
The attachment was supposed to save his clients. Instead, his mistake will send them to jail.
[01:58]
Zing Singh
Welcome to Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Each episode we pick a billionaire and we find out how they made their money.
[02:04]
Simon Jack
We take them from zero to their first million and then from a million onto a billion.
[02:08]
Zing Singh
My name is Zing Singh and I'm a journalist, author and podcaster.
[02:11]
Simon Jack
And I'm Simon Jack. I'm the BBC's business editor.
[02:14]
Zing Singh
I have to say I've never sent the wrong email in quite the same way this lawyer did.
[02:19]
Simon Jack
I think I've replied to a group when I meant to reply to one person and have perhaps been unflattering about someone else on the group. But I've never a disastrous one like this.
[02:29]
Zing Singh
And not one that sent your clients to jail.
[02:32]
Simon Jack
No. Not yet anyway. This is the story of two Brazilian brothers, Wesley and Joeli Batista. They're 54 and 53, respectively. And each of them is worth $5.7 billion.
[02:46]
Zing Singh
They own a company called JBS, the biggest meat producer in the world. If you're vegan or vegetarian, maybe turn off now.
[02:53]
Simon Jack
Yes, this episode will involve the referencing of killing of a lot of animals, because JBS slaughters over 13 million animals a day. That is per year, 5 billion chickens, 53 million pigs, 27 million cows, and 8 million lambs. If you eat meat, you probably eat products made by jbs.
[03:14]
Zing Singh
And this is a meaty story in many ways, because this isn't just a story about Brazil's economic growth. The company controlled by the Batista brothers had to pay a $3.2 billion fine and spent time in jail in one of the biggest corruption scandals in history.
[03:31]
Simon Jack
But today, they are worth more money than ever. Their shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange. They can even be found at meetings in the White House. Probably worthy of a movie. So let us set the opening scenes.
[03:46]
Zing Singh
The Batista brothers story begins with their father, Jose batista Sobrino. In 1953, he opened a small butcher's in the Brazilian city of Annapolis. It had the capacity to slaughter a measly five animals a day. Now, Brazil in the 1950s was in a period of rapid modernization and industrial growth. And a new capital city, Brasilia, was constructed between 1956 to 1960 under the slogan 50 years progress in five. Jose was attracted by the tax incentives in that city. You get four years tax free for setting up there. So he moved there and he gave his company a big boost.
[04:22]
Simon Jack
And he supplied meat to the cafeterias at construction sites. Building this New Capital. In 1968, he expanded his business with the purchase of his first cattle processing unit, an abattoir, a slaughterhouse, in other words, in the Brazilian state of Goyas. Within two years, it had quadrupled its slaughter rate from 30 cattle per day to 120. And he named his company Free Boy in 1972. That is a combination of refrigerator and bull, which is exactly what they were selling. And that year, 1972, Wesley and Joe Wesley were both born. Only 10 months between them, they had four siblings, one older brother and three sisters.
[05:01]
Zing Singh
Now, as a country, Brazil was primed for the beef industry because of its vast grazing lands. And industrialization meant that BR were consuming so much more of it. And at this point, Brazil had the world's fourth largest supply of cattle, 105 million cows mooing all over the country. Only India, the Soviet Union and the US had more than that.
[05:23]
Simon Jack
Yeah, but sheer numbers mean Little in the beef industry. What's more important is the rate of slaughter. And that in 1972 was Brazil's biggest obstacle because its slaughter rate, these are. It's a horrible measure, this, isn't it?
[05:35]
Odoo Advertiser
For our country.
[05:36]
Simon Jack
The slaughter rate was only 12% of the herd each year, compared with 24% in Argentina and 40% in the United States. Why is that? Well, poor quality pastures meant cows had less nutrition, so they had to wait longer until they were fattened up. They had to wait until they were five years old to slaughter, compared with just 30 months in Argentina or 16 months in the United States.
[05:58]
Zing Singh
You'd think the beef industry would come up with a more PR friendly way of saying slaughter rate by now.
[06:02]
Simon Jack
Yeah, I think process or something is probably the word they would.
[06:05]
Zing Singh
Processing speed.
[06:06]
Simon Jack
Yeah.
[06:06]
Zing Singh
So the Brazilian government focused all their attention on turning beef into a profitable export, export industry. They moved cattle raising from the south, where it was cold in winter, to the Mato Grosso area of Brazil. This land was inexpensive, so breeding thousands of cattle was easier. And it was also conveniently located next door to the state of Goias, where the Batista business was located. The government was financing the modernization of packing plants and Brazilian labor costs were low. So meat packers were quickly able to compete with the US Especially when it came to products like tinned corned beef, hamburgers and pet food markets.
[06:42]
Simon Jack
And this story rem me of other ones we've seen where a business or a person finds themselves at a crossroads of what's going on in the country and are kind of in the right place at the right time. Because this was the beginning of the Brazilian beef boom and Batista family did very well. During the 1970s, Wesley and Joe Esley learned the business alongside their father. Although Wesley says his father was the only true hands on butcher in the family. That's nice. As teenagers, the boys bought and sold oxen. They negotiated with clients. They learned the inner workings of the industry. And Wesley. Wesley said their background was not academic. He said, we have the background of life. We have learned by Living. By 17, both had dropped out of high school to manage the various slaughterhouses
[07:24]
Zing Singh
the family owned through the 80s and 90s. Their oldest brother, Jose Jr. Led Freeboy. Jose Sr. Is still alive, but he took a step back from the business. And during this time, it seems Wesley and Joe Wesley oversaw this expansion. Wesley has said it's in our DNA to grow. According to their biographer, Raquel Landem, Wesley is a smart manager with a close eye for detail. Joe Wesley is the more Flamboyant, one of the brothers, and is a risk taker. She described him as very intelligent. He has no scruples. But we'll come to that later.
[07:56]
Simon Jack
Yeah, we will. And this is not a family keen on bureaucracy. They like action. They encourage efficiency, agility and decisiveness. And the brothers started expanding aggressively. Between 1993 and 2005, Free Boy acquired 12 other slaughterhouses and beef processes plants.
[08:13]
Zing Singh
Now, it's worth taking a moment here to understand the reasons why this expansion was possible. And one key fact was the growth of supermarket chains. These squeezed traditional local butchers out of business. And the local butchers had been the main clients of smaller local slaughterhouses. Also, supermarkets want a lot of meat, and they had more stringent sanitation and quality controls. These cost money and therefore easier for a large slaughterhouse to take on. And local slaughterhouses started to get into financial trouble and. And then conveniently, in would swoop the Batista brothers, offering to buy their business.
[08:47]
Simon Jack
And around the world, more people were eating more meat. Over this period, there was growing urbanization, higher incomes, better access to refrigeration, for example. So as well as processed beef, they began exporting fresh beef, primarily cuts not widely used in Brazil. In 2004, they relocated free Boys headquarters to Sao Paulo, centralizing all their operations. And in 2005, the eldest brother, Jose, after 20 years in charge, decided to explore a career in politics, which actually ultimately failed. But meanwhile, Wesley and Joe Esli, who are focused on, took over the business.
[09:23]
Zing Singh
It's very hard to find any records of their personal wealth at this point. We do know that in 2005, Free Boy had estimated revenues of just under $2 billion. But they were also plowing profits into their expansion. Moody's, which assigns credit ratings to companies, noted the negative free cash flow generation due to the company's strategy. So they may have done it earlier, but we think it's safe to say that by 2005, at the age of 33, now running free Boy, Wesley and Josli are millionaires.
[09:53]
Simon Jack
I think very safe to say that, because although that the negative free cash flow, that means that any profit they make, they're plowing back into the business. But of course, that has the effect of making the business worth more over time. So, yeah, definitely by age 33, they are millionaires. Now. Their first move was to expand their production outside of Brazil. And there was one key factor which would make that possible. There's something called the Brazilian Development Bank. It's also known as Bendes. It's like a national bank. It was founded in 1952, and it helps fund private companies to expand industry and infrastructure in the country. Lots of countries have these kind of development banks. But Bendes had just begun its national champion scheme, choosing several Brazilian companies, investing in them heavily to become national champions to turning them into successful multinational corporations. And Brazil, about 10 years ago, was named as one of the BRICS countries. That's Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. These are the fast growing, rapidly industrializing countries which have come to take up much more of the world economy than previously. So Brazil's in the economic fast lane at the moment.
[11:11]
Zing Singh
Well, the brothers were living life in the fast lane. They bought Swift Armor, Argentina's largest beef producer and exporter, for 200 million benders, gave them an $80 million loan to help pay for that. They continued expanding in the region, and by 2006, they were operating 21 beef plants in Brazil and five in Argentina, slaughtering around 20,000 cattle per day. Sorry vegetarians, but they wanted more, so they set their sights on the United States. However, they couldn't export to the US because the US's restrictive safety rules didn't accept meat from Brazil.
[11:44]
Simon Jack
Very interesting, that thing about the US not allowing beef into their market. Whenever you look at international trade, one of the key stumbling blocks at anything is whether you accept foreign food into your market. That's part of it's to do with sanitary requirements and health rules. The other is to protect your own farmers because it's. That's seen as very politically valuable. You know, if you look in the US at the moment, you know, the farming lobby, the rural communities often have a very powerful voice. So that's be part of it.
[12:15]
Zing Singh
So they needed to buy their way into that market. And to help finance Sisnix expansion, they held an ipo, the very first beef processing company to do so in Brazil. And in March 2007, they took JBS public evaluation, equivalent to $800 million at the time. This was the most successful debut in the history of its stock market. And to mark the occasion, Free Boy was renamed JBS after their father Jose's initials.
[12:42]
Simon Jack
So just a few months later, the Batista brothers made their biggest acquisitions, which finally gave them access to that U.S. meat market. They bought a company called Swift, which was the third largest beef and pork processor in the us. It's also the largest beef processor in Australia. It's got annual sales of $9 billion. But buying it cost them 1.4 billion. And a substantial portion of the financing for all of that came from Bindes, which bought around $500 million worth of new JBS shares. Keep your eye also on that development bank because I think that, you know, these are big loans that the Bindis is extending to them. And one would say outsize for a, for a company of their size at that time.
[13:23]
Zing Singh
If red flags and alarm bells aren't swinging around your head at the minute, they should be. Yeah, Swift was expensive, but it got them a global brand name with sales in markets that were mostly new to the company. Places like Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, China and Taiwan. And at the time, Joe Wesley announced to market analysts, with this acquisition, we become the largest beef company in the world.
[13:46]
Simon Jack
But they weren't nearly done yet. Over the next decade, JBS acquired more than 40 rivals on four continents.
[13:52]
Zing Singh
And.
[13:52]
Simon Jack
And when the US dollar was weaker, the brothers bought more American companies, including Smithfield Foods for half a billion dollars. And they're about to spend half a billion again to acquire a US company called National Beef. But the deal fell through after antitrust challenges. That's competition concerns from the U.S. justice Department, who claimed the takeover would result in lower prices paid to cattle suppliers and higher beef prices for consumers. This means that when a company gets too big, they start calling the shots on the terms. Which means that the suppliers of the beef get squeezed because you can't argue with this big colossus. And it means that they can also have control of the pricing of the end product. Competition authorities around the world keep an eye on this kind of stuff. We've seen it in every company. It goes from meat all the way to the biggest technology companies in the world.
[14:41]
Zing Singh
I also love the fact that when the US dollar was weaker, they went on a shopping spree. Yeah, very relatable. Except for most of us, we're just flying to New York and buying some new handbags or something. They're buying billion dollar meat companies.
[14:52]
Simon Jack
You say most of us. I'll listen to you.
[14:56]
Zing Singh
Well, I still remember the good old days when the American dollar was three to a pound.
[15:00]
Simon Jack
Yeah. Gosh, are you old enough to remember that?
[15:02]
Zing Singh
Am I old enough? Yeah, I do actually, because my parents wanted to go to New York, but we couldn't. Well, never mind.
[15:09]
Simon Jack
Okay.
[15:09]
Zing Singh
Well, the head of an association of independent ranchers said this is a David versus Goliath type of victory. Wesley, who's Goliath in this case, by the way, said that the deal falling through would allow JBS to, in his words, be in an enhanced liquidity position for future growth opportunities. That is, they could just spend that money elsewhere.
[15:29]
Simon Jack
We've got plenty of money. We'll go and find something else to spend it on.
[15:31]
Zing Singh
Exactly, exactly. Thank you very much. And instead they diversified into chicken. They bought a majority stake in US company Pilgrim's Pride after it went bankrupt for $800 million. And by 2011, the brothers responsible for 22% of the US beef supply.
[15:47]
Simon Jack
Wow. If you think how many burgers they sell in the US that's a lot of beef. By the way, are you watching the series Beef yet?
[15:54]
Zing Singh
No, not yet.
[15:55]
Simon Jack
It's completely unrelated. It's very good though. Anyway, at this point, they're throwing some serious money around. They're selling a lot of meat, but not enough to fund what was a $20 billion acquisition spree. How did they pay for it all? Well, they got nearly 5 billion off it from the Development Bank Bindes. By 2014, the Brazilian state was the major individual shareholder of the company, with nearly 35% of the total shares. So as I was saying earlier, that seems to be a very oversized share for a national development bank to hold a successful private company with the size and scale they are, you would think that they could go to commercial banks rather than use, in a sense, you know, a kind of development bank to get people on their feet. So that, that does look very unusual.
[16:42]
Zing Singh
The bank which was to create national champions of business has clearly created.
[16:47]
Simon Jack
Job done, I would say.
[16:48]
Zing Singh
Exactly.
[16:49]
Simon Jack
But let's check in on how rich they are at this point, because this is why they're on the list. From 2012, Forbes had included the Batista family in their billionaire list. But the family included up to 10 members, so there were no individual billionaires. In 2016, Forbes listed the six children, their father individually. Each was worth around US$890 million.
[17:10]
Zing Singh
So at this point, Wesley and Joe Wesley are very close to that billionaire status. But before we can get there, we need to look a little bit more closely about how they built this fortune. So far, we've been telling you the story that the Batista brothers told the world. But in 2017, we found out that wasn't quite the whole truth. And for that, we need to talk about a little something called Operation Car Wash.
[17:33]
Simon Jack
Yes, this is where the sizzle underneath that beef comes in. Operation Car Wash was a massive Brazilian anti corruption investigation. It began in 2014 with the investigation of a small car wash over money laundering. If you've seen Breaking Bad, you'll know how effective car washes can be at laundering money. But it went on to uncover a vast corruption scheme right at the heart of the Brazilian government. With lots of tentacles. It found large companies been paying bribes to politicians in exchange for contracts and political favors. A kind of a story as old as the hills.
[18:07]
Zing Singh
By 2016, the investigation had moved far beyond its original focus, and the Batista brothers became formal suspects. This could be very bad for them. They were still just in their mid-40s at that point. And the CEO of another company got a 19 year prison sentence. So in 2017, the brothers approached Brazil's Prosecutor General, offering to trade all the evidence they'd collected in exchange for immunity.
[18:31]
Simon Jack
Yeah, and the brothers revealed information about how they themselves had bribed high ranking officials in exchange for favors and contracts. Things like resolving tax matters easily freeing up loans. They even claimed they had bribed three Brazilian presidents, all of whom, by the way, denied this. In total, the brothers said they'd spent around $200 million in bribes than any 1900 politicians.
[18:55]
Zing Singh
Wow, that is a lot of people to send bribes to. Now, the brothers alleged that some bribes would go to offshore accounts, and most of the money was funded into political campaigns. JBS and other companies under the umbrella holding company were the biggest campaign contributors in the 2014 Brazilian elections. In videos of his testimony, Josli said that the company's extreme growth could not have happened without these bribes, claiming it wouldn't have worked, it wouldn't have been so fast.
[19:21]
Simon Jack
We had to do it.
[19:22]
Zing Singh
We had. We simply had to pay 1900 politicians.
[19:26]
Simon Jack
Joe Esli also recounted how a decade long scheme between JBS and Brazil's National Bank Bind came about. It started in a 2005 meeting at the bank's headquarters with Guido Mantega, who served as the president of Bindes for two years before taking over as Brazil's finance minister between 2006 and 2014. And Joesli alleged that with Guido's blessing, JBS started looking for opportunities abroad for
[19:52]
Zing Singh
that first international purchase, Swift Armor in Argentina. Remember them? Bendis lent the company $80 million. Joe Wesley alleged that the Batistas paid 4% of that value, 3.2 million, as a bribe to an associate of Guido. The brothers then claimed to have continued paying kickbacks to that associate until 2009, when they alleged they started negotiating directly with Guido himself.
[20:17]
Simon Jack
Yeah. And in the days after the public found out about JBS's corruption scandal, Joesli started speaking publicly. He told a journalist it was the rule of the game. And what's most important, corruption was on the upper floor with the authorities. And he sent an open letter apologizing for participating in this scheme. But he's also Placed some blame on Brazil's corrupt system, saying, in other countries outside Brazil, we were able to expand our business without violating ethical values.
[20:42]
Zing Singh
So much for being the national champion of business. Well, Benders has denied allegations of corruption and bribery, citing an independent investigation at the time that found no evidence. And Guido? Well, he was arrested but almost immediately released due to his wife's illness. He faced further legal action, but he has denied all allegations and didn't end up with a major conviction. But he wasn't the last politician to be implicated by the brothers.
[21:07]
Simon Jack
Nope. As part of their testimony, the brothers claim to have bribed the sitting Brazilian president Michel Temer with bribes worth a total of $4.6 million. Joely even wore a wire to secretly record their conversation. In the tape, the president can be heard discussing Joe Esli giving a bribe to another politician on Tamar's behalf. So what happened to that president? He denied wrongdoing and refused to resign. There were two failed attempts to impeach him. When he left office in 2019, he was arrested as part of Operation Car Wash, but then was quickly released. He's continued to deny all allegations back
[21:43]
Zing Singh
to the Batista brothers. The plea deal offered them immunity from prosecution on corruption charges. Additionally, to settle the bribery charges, the company controlled by the Batista brothers had to pay a record breaking $3.2 billion fine to the Brazilian authorities. Alth so this was over 25 years, but there's not one, but two unbelievable twists to the story. First, and this is unbelievable, Joe Wesley's lawyer attached the wrong audio recording to his email to the prosecutor's office. We've recounted that at the start of the episode. Instead of the wire recording of President Tamar, the audio the lawyer sent was a conversation between Joe Wesley and Ricardo Saud, an executive of JBS's holding company.
[22:26]
Simon Jack
So they're trying to dump Temer in it. In. In the process, the lawyer dumps them right in the soup. Because in the four hour tape, Joesli seems to admit that he hid key information from the prosecutors. And they discuss ways they might be able to influence Brazil's chief prosecutor on the terms of the plea deal. Joe Esli and Ricardo sound relaxed. They're laughing. Joe ESLI is heard saying, with a jewel in their crown, we're going to come out of this as everyone's friends and we're not going to be arrested. Within days of the email being sent, Joesli and Ricardo turned themselves into the police. Their lawyers denied any breach of the plea agreement, insisting that both men had fully complied with their corporation obligations. I would say, bad day at the office for those lawyers.
[23:08]
Zing Singh
I mean, if you were the lawyer, you'd sort of dread waking up finding yourself in the back of a van with a bunch of pigs about to be sent to the slaughter. It's the kind of mistake that costs you your career, if not your life.
[23:19]
Simon Jack
It would make, as we were saying, would make a great movie, wouldn't it? And you know, the short lived screen presence of this lawyer would be quite a nice little cameo watching their face when they realized what they'd done. I don't think history relates what actually happened to this lawyer so well, you know, if anyone knows.
[23:35]
Zing Singh
Yeah, we can only hope they're alive and well, wherever they are. For the second twist, let's rewind a few days to the day that Joe Wesley's secret recording with President Tamar, the one that the lawyer was meant to attach to that email, went public. And this was when the news broke about the corruption within Brazil's meat industry. That day, 17 May 2017, became known in the Brazilian financial market as Joesli Day. The day after Joesli Day, JBS's stock plummeted. The fall was so dramatic that share trading on the Brazilian stock market was briefly suspended. With the meat industry so important to the country, the Brazilian stock market plunged nearly 9%, the worst collapse in nine years.
[24:17]
Simon Jack
Ouch. Quick note on share trading being suspended. They have circuit breakers sometimes, so if something starts falling really, really fast, usually around nine or 10, they will suspend trading in it so the market can regroup and you have an orderly market so people can just take a breath. And it's really important in current market conditions because often you have basically algorithms trading shares and they are primed usually to follow the momentum. So once stock starts falling really quickly, the algorithms notice it and they start selling too. And you get this combined effect and basically it can enter total chaos in market conditions. So you have these circuit breakers where basically if it goes down a certain level, it'll cut it off, off. You'll close share trading. So everyone can just gather themselves, the algorithms can take a break and, and the traders can take a break and everyone go, okay, rather than panic, let's try and figure out what this is worth and what the situation really warrants. That's how share trading and suspension works, Right?
[25:13]
Zing Singh
So it's basically to stop a massive panic attack and mass hysteria from taking.
[25:17]
Simon Jack
Exactly. But remember, the brothers knew this bad news was coming. They knew they were about to share the TAM tape. So it's alleged that in the weeks before, the brothers got ahead of this and sold $90 million worth of JBS stock, thereby avoiding, of course, the 30% fall in the company share price. Now that would be considered insider trading. So Wesley was also arrested just three days after his younger brother, although the
[25:44]
Zing Singh
brothers always maintained that the transactions were legitimate business operations rather than insider trading.
[25:50]
Simon Jack
Add together the alleged insider trading, the accidental tape which seemed to show obstruction of justice, and the brothers spent about six months in jail in a Sao Paulo detention center before being released into house arrest. Like many others charged under Operation Car Wash, the case remained unresolved for years.
[26:08]
Zing Singh
Well, what impact did the scandal ultimately have on JBS? On Joe Wesley's release from prison, JBS shares jumped 3.6%, and there was a boom in the beef industry due to a huge surge in demand from China. Their Brazilian profits soared nearly 116% in the first quarter of 2019. And that year, Wesley and Joe Wesley both made their debut on Forbes billionaire list worth $1.3 billion each.
[26:36]
Simon Jack
So a bit of time inside didn't seem to harm their business prospects.
[26:40]
Zing Singh
Definitely didn't dent their fortune.
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[29:22]
Simon Jack
So they're billionaires. Let's go beyond a billion For a few years, the brothers were banned from holding management positions at the holding company of JBL. But Covid intervened and changed all of that. In 2020, a Brazilian judge lifted the ban. It was seen as essential the brothers returned during the pandemic, given that JBS supplied 25% of Brazil's food market and employed 260,000 workers by this point. So they're too valuable to leave out of the boardroom. Then in 2023, the Brazilian securities and Exchange Commission, this is the financial police, acquitted the brothers of charges of insider trading. And in 2024, they officially rejoined the board of JBS, still to this day, the world's largest meat company. It's got more than $77 billion in annual revenue, 2 billion in net income, with a presence of nearly every country in the world.
[30:15]
Zing Singh
And it is a good time to be in the meat business. After declining consumption rates in the west due to rising veganism and vegetarianism, meat is now back in a big way. We are now lobbied from all angles about having to eat more protein, although a protein deficit is actually very unusual in a developed country. In 2025, Wesley said that the growing use of GLP1 weight loss drugs could be driving growing demand for protein because users are advised to eat plenty of it to retain muscle density. Speaking at Rothschild's consumer conference, he said, in the past the doctor said you should not eat too many eggs, you should not eat too much protein. Now it's the other way around.
[30:53]
Simon Jack
So fascinating. They've benefited in the first stage from the desire to eat more meat protein in the developing world, particularly in China. So they rode that wave. Now they're raiding a different wave, which is that if you are going to eat make it protein dense as weight loss drugs become more prevalent and diets change.
[31:10]
Zing Singh
Exactly. God, if you're a vegetarian listening to this, you must be hanging your head in your hands right now.
[31:16]
Simon Jack
So the brothers are well and truly back, but of Course, they want to get bigger. For a long time, JBS had been prevented from listing on the New York Stock Exchange, if you like. This is the. The Mecca of capitalism. This is where you want your shares listed if you're a big company. They've been refused a decade by the U.S. securities and Exchange Commission, by regulators there, and they've been opposed on both sides of the aisle, the political aisle in the US Congress. And there's also a US Advocacy group literally named Ban the Batistas.
[31:44]
Zing Singh
But the appetite for the Batistas meat business changed during Trump's second presidency. In 2025, they finally got SEC approval. And this came just two days after it was revealed in a public filing with the Federal Election Commission that the largest donor to the Trump inaugural committee was JBS's subsidiary, Pilgrim's Pride. It was a $5 million donation. That makes it five times larger than the donations from Amazon, Meta, Uber, Nvidia and Microsoft, which each gave $1 million.
[32:16]
Simon Jack
Wow, that's amazing. So their donation was the same as Amazon, Meta, Uber, Nvidia, and Microsoft combined. Now, the JBS denies there's any quid pro quo going on here. A spokesman said no company has control over the timing of when Inaugural Committee donation contributions are publicized. And the JBS listing has been underway approximately two years. The company has internal controls and compliance procedures in place to ensure that all political contributions are made in a transparent and ethical manner and in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Statement ends. A spokesperson for Trump's inaugural committee said the President greatly appreciated his supporters and donors, but he is not bought by anyone. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.
[32:56]
Zing Singh
Well, in June 2025, JBS made their big debut on the New York Stock Exchange. The brothers are the largest shareholders of JBS through their holding company. And when JBS was listed, the net worth of Wesley and Joe Wesley immediately increased by an estimated $200 million each. Well, now it's time to score the Batista brothers on our billionaire categories. Wealth, controversy, power, legacy. We rate all our billionaires on this scale from a range of 0 to 10. So let's start with, with wealth.
[33:31]
Simon Jack
Well, currently, each worth $5.7 billion, which is a lot of money. It makes them around 750th in our list of billionaires today. Coming from a developing country like Brazil, that's obviously a very big number. So I would give them a solid. Give them a 4.
[33:48]
Zing Singh
Actually, we don't have that much information about how they like to spend it. And we do like ranking our billionaires higher if they you know, buy flash cars or private islands, for instance. So, yeah, I would say 4 out of 10 spend your money a bit more. Flagrantly.
[34:03]
Simon Jack
Yeah, I imagine they may well do, but we just don't have the details. Okay, so that's for each on that controversy. Well, we've, you know, we've spoken quite a bit about that so far, but we should also talk about some of the controversies related to how the meat is actually made, processed, slaughtered, etc. There've been some child labor accusations. In 2025, JBS agreed to pay $4 million after US investigators found that children as young as 13 were working overnight night cleaning shifts at the abattoirs in states including Colorado, Minnesota and Nebraska. So this is in the US Mostly from Central America themselves. The children were hired through an outside sanitation company. They worked with chemicals, sometimes showing up to school with burns, and washed hazardous tools.
[34:47]
Zing Singh
In a statement, JBS said that it stopped using these staffing agencies to fill sanitation shifts and hoped that the money would provide valuable resources to children in need. But these allegations of labor violations don't end there because in 2017, an investigation found JBS had bought beef from a farm that was under investigation by Brazilian prosecutors for using workers in conditions described as being like modern day slavery. This actually had repercussions in the United Kingdom because a supermarket chain called Waitrose then pulled JBS supplied corned beef off the shelves. Following the story.
[35:23]
Simon Jack
Yeah, JBS said it immediately stopped buying beef in the farm in question following the police raids. And their quote does not buy cattle from any farms which have any association with slave labor as listed by the Brazilian. And I think we have to have a mention also in terms of animal welfare as well.
[35:39]
Zing Singh
Yes, obviously the meat industry has huge issues of animal welfare. In 2017, a JBS investigation by the Humane Society of the United States claimed undercover researchers had seen chickens being punched and beaten with iron rods at a farm and an abattoir contracted to Pilgrim's Pride, which is one of JBS's subsidiaries. And in 2018, another animal rights group, Mercy for Animals, released video footage that said it showed workers at JBS supplier beating piglets and ripping off their testicles without anesthesia. I mean, it all makes your stomach churn a little bit.
[36:13]
Simon Jack
Yeah. JBS said in a statement that it suspended shipments from that Pixar Spire site and had started an investigation, and it did not condone or participate in any type of animal abuse. Pilgrim's Pride also launched an investigation suspending supply from at least one of those farms.
[36:28]
Zing Singh
I mean, I feel like, this category could go on and on.
[36:31]
Simon Jack
Yeah.
[36:31]
Zing Singh
But I think we probably do also need to talk about the effect of rearing beef on the environment, because beef production is the primary driver of deforestation in the world. JBS has been repeatedly accused of buying cattle raised on illegally deforested Amazon land.
[36:48]
Whole Foods Market Advertiser
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[36:49]
Simon Jack
In 2017, it was fined $7.7 million by Brazil's Environmental regulator for buying cattle from ranchers operating on restricted land.
[36:57]
Zing Singh
JBS said 99.9% of its cattle purchases meet its socio environmental criteria. And it also said it was working to implement a new procedure to cover all links in the supply chain. So, I mean, we've not had a bumper controversy.
[37:11]
Simon Jack
And also. And other people will point out that, you know, beef is a very inefficient way of delivering protein in terms of, you know, methane emissions and all that stuff, both on land use, animal treatment, environmental grounds, child welfare. There's plenty to go out here. I mean, they're gonna have to score pretty highly. And that's on top of a major bribery scandal as well. I think. I think they scored pretty high for me on the controversy stakes.
[37:37]
Zing Singh
I mean, I feel like without the bribery scandal, they would already score pretty high. But with that bribery scandal and it being one of the biggest corruption scandals in Brazilian history, if not the biggest, I think it's got to be a nine out of ten.
[37:50]
Simon Jack
Yeah, definitely a nine. I mean, it's possibly okay. Yeah, a nine. Let's, you know, let's call it a nine.
[37:56]
Zing Singh
Let's move on to power.
[37:58]
Simon Jack
Yes. Well, one of the tests we often do for power is that, can you bring up the White House and talk to the President? And I think the answer to that is I'm not sure he's going to take every call straight off the bat, but he definitely has access. In 2025, Joe Esli met privately with President Trump. The meeting came a few weeks after the White House imposed 50% tariffs on most Brazilian imports. That was entirely eliminated. Mainly, you know, the US Will say, is because there's a lot of appetite for beef and you don't want to push up prices to consumers when you're importing a lot of beef. And bear in mind, Brazilian business leaders have been lobbying the US Administration very hard to ease those tariffs. And one of the other four, I'm doing myself a disservice saying this because I work really hard to bring those tariffs down, but it was 99% Batista.
[38:44]
Zing Singh
Wow. That is quite the observation of your rival's power.
[38:47]
Simon Jack
Yeah. Important politically as well.
[38:49]
Zing Singh
Well, Joeli has also been credited as a major force between a rapprochement between Trump and the Brazilian president, Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva. He played a key role during the US operation in Venezuela, serving as an unofficial Trump emissary.
[39:04]
Simon Jack
Yeah, he shuttled between Washington D.C. and Caracas, meeting with Venezuela's interim before and after he met with U.S. officials.
[39:13]
Zing Singh
But JBS's holding company said Joeli Batista is not a representative of any government.
[39:19]
Simon Jack
And even within Brazil, since Operation Car Wash and the scandal there, they've been regaining political clout, including appearing alongside President Lula at public events. So it seems they've managed to be rehabilitated politically.
[39:32]
Zing Singh
I mean, it is quite the journey from a plea deal with federal prosecutors to standing next to your country's president and talking to the President of the United States. Yeah, that's quite the resurrection. I think these guys score pretty high for me.
[39:45]
Simon Jack
Yeah, for sure. Both within Brazil and on the wider stage. I'm going to give them possibly I'm going to give them a 7o, I'm
[39:54]
Zing Singh
going to go 1 higher and say an 8 out of 10 because I think it's just something about the fact that they were able to come back from that huge corruption scandal to probably even greater levels of power than before. That's pretty impressive.
[40:09]
Simon Jack
Yeah. And legacy, what will they be remembered for? I mean, I suppose this kind of large scale, industrial scale farming is something we've seen across the world. They certainly revolutionized the food industry in Brazil, made Brazil a massive, major force in food supply. I mean, they will go down for better or worse as kind of folk heroes in terms of Brazilian businessmen, I
[40:32]
Zing Singh
think, and absolute villains if you're a vegetarian or vegan. Listening to this.
[40:35]
Simon Jack
Yeah. Billions of dead animals.
[40:36]
Zing Singh
Billions and billions of dead animals. What was that stat you were talking about earlier?
[40:41]
Simon Jack
Something along the lines of if we killed as many people as we do animals, the human race would only last a couple of weeks.
[40:49]
Zing Singh
God. I mean, that really does put it all into position.
[40:51]
Simon Jack
We'll have our producers check that for accuracy, but I think that's probably about right.
[40:55]
Zing Singh
I think their legacy will be one of how in our current post shame era, you can have probably some of the worst things happen to you as a businessman, as someone who leads a company company and if you maneuver your way right, you can just make a comeback.
[41:11]
Simon Jack
Yeah, yeah, I agree. Well, that's not a particularly salutary lesson I don't think, to learn. Well, it is a salutary lesson. It's not a very edifying lesson.
[41:19]
Zing Singh
It's true. I think for that I've got to give them, I think, an 8 out of 10. If you run a company where almost everyone in the world has probably eaten your meat, I think that makes you score very highly indeed in this category.
[41:32]
Simon Jack
Okay, Legacy.
[41:33]
Zing Singh
Eight from me, eight from you and eight from me.
[41:36]
Simon Jack
So the question is, are they good, bad or just another two billionaires? What do you think?
[41:41]
Zing Singh
Email goodbadbillionairebc.com or drop us a text or WhatsApp to 001-917-686-1176 and tell us what you think.
[41:50]
Simon Jack
And don't forget to include your name as we may well read out your message on a future episode.
[41:59]
Zing Singh
So we're taking a break for a few weeks, but don't worry, we'll be back with even more billionaires for you to get your teeth into. And maybe they be a few more billionaires in the world by then.
[42:07]
Simon Jack
There probably will be. Thank you everyone for listening. In the meantime, do keep getting in touch. We've had some great ideas on people we should cover on Good Bad Billionaire.
[42:15]
Zing Singh
We're always open for suggestions, so listen up in September to see if any of your suggestions actually made the airwaves. Good Bad Billionaire is a BBC World Service podcast produced by Hannah Hufford. The researcher is Hannah Ramazani, the answer editor is Paul Smith, and it's a
[42:32]
Simon Jack
BBC Studios production for the BBC World Service. The senior Commissioning producer is Sarah Green and the Commissioning Editor is John Manelle. I cashed out my entire 401k thinking someone stole my identity.
[43:01]
Zing Singh
A fake email cost me my dream home. After I sent my personal information to
[43:04]
Simon Jack
a scammer, my AI agent wired thousands to an account I'd never seen.
[43:09]
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The Batista brothers: Meat and money

The Batista brothers: Meat and money

Good Bad Billionaire – The Batista Brothers: Meat and Money

Overview

Episode Structure

1. The Accidental Email: A Lawyer’s Catastrophic Blunder

2. Origins: The Butcher Shop to Billionaire Pipeline

3. Aggressive Expansion and Supermarket Power Plays

4. National Champions: State-Backed Global Takeover

5. Billionaire Status—and the First Fall

6. Operation Car Wash: Corruption, Bribes & Immunity Deals

7. Markets Meltdown, Jail Time, and a Quick Comeback

8. Reinvention and Indestructibility

9. Changing Diets: New Demand, New Controversies

10. Breaking into the U.S. Stock Market—Via Politics

11. The Hosts’ Scorecard: Wealth, Power, Controversy, Legacy

Notable Quotes & Moments

Timestamps for Key Segments

Conclusion & Verdict

Good Bad Billionaire – The Batista Brothers: Meat and Money

Overview

Episode Structure

1. The Accidental Email: A Lawyer’s Catastrophic Blunder

2. Origins: The Butcher Shop to Billionaire Pipeline

3. Aggressive Expansion and Supermarket Power Plays

4. National Champions: State-Backed Global Takeover

5. Billionaire Status—and the First Fall

6. Operation Car Wash: Corruption, Bribes & Immunity Deals

7. Markets Meltdown, Jail Time, and a Quick Comeback

8. Reinvention and Indestructibility

9. Changing Diets: New Demand, New Controversies

10. Breaking into the U.S. Stock Market—Via Politics

11. The Hosts’ Scorecard: Wealth, Power, Controversy, Legacy

Notable Quotes & Moments

Timestamps for Key Segments

Conclusion & Verdict