Latest news with #JoesleyBatista
Forbes
13-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The World's Largest Meatpacker Jumps On First Day Of NYSE Trading
In the first hours since the world's largest meatpacker began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday under the ticker JBS, the stock had a slow start before ending the day up nearly 5%. The addition of American investors has been expected to help the Brazilian conglomerate with $77 billion in 2024 revenue from processing and selling beef, pork, chicken and lamb to more than 100 countries. During the first day of trading, shares rose around 3% before briefly falling past where the stock opened at $13.65 per share at around 2:30 p.m eastern. As of the close of markets, the stock was back up and hit a high $14.29, or around 5% up. The market capitalization of JBS was more than $31 billion. And the billionaire sons of the founder, who guided the expansion of JBS beyond Brazil—and went to jail seven years ago after its American acquisition spree got ensnared in a massive corruption scandal involving 1,800 politicians in in their homeland—are now richer for it. As JBS stock rose, the net worths of Joesley and Wesley Batista increased an estimated $200 million each. The brothers, who are the top shareholders in the company and serve as board directors, are now worth $4.8 billion each. Together, through family holding companies, they own nearly 50% of JBS. Billionaires Wesley (left) and Joesley Batista are the top shareholders of JBS, the world's largest meatpacker, which began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. Joesley and Wesley Batista, 53 and 52 respectively, were personally charged with foreign corruption in the U.S. as well as insider trading allegations in Brazil (related to the timing of the news of their bribery scheme) that saw them briefly jailed in Brazil for about six months from 2017 to 2018. In all, the Batistas and one of their holding companies agreed to more than three dozen incidents of bribery in Brazil, according to their 2017 cooperation agreements with the Brazilian government. And the U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission found evidence of some $150 million in kickback when the Batistas and their holding company, J&F Investimentos, pled guilty to U.S. foreign corruption charges in 2020. J&F paid a $128 million criminal fine as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice. J&F also paid $27 million over foreign corruption charges with the SEC. At the same time, the Batista brothers, who are Brazilian citizens, settled a civil penalty with the SEC and paid $550,000 each. Until 2025, there had been a bipartisan effort to stop the U.S. listing on the NYSE. Last year, 15 senators—including Republicans Josh Hawley of Missouri and John Barrasso of Wyoming as well as Democrats Cory Booker of New Jersey, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts—denounced a potential IPO. Years prior, former Florida Senator Marco Rubio, now Secretary of State, was one of JBS' loudest critics and twice requested a broad investigation by the Treasury Department into the Batistas and their assets. The long-delayed SEC approval for JBS' dual-listing came just two days after the Trump Administration's new SEC chairman was sworn into office. The SEC approval also came 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 the JBS subsidiary, chicken processor Pilgrim's Pride. The $5 million donation to Trump's Inauguration was five times larger than the checks given by Amazon, Meta, Uber, Nvidia and Microsoft, which each gave $1 million. A JBS spokesperson has denied any link in the timing of the donation. The Trump Administration did not return request for comment. Allowing JBS to trade in the U.S. is likely bad news for America's homegrown—and largest overall—meatpacker, Tyson. With a market capitalization of just under $20 billion, Tyson is slightly bigger than JBS in beef and chicken, but its stock price has been struggling, down 8%, in the past three months. Tyson has historically traded at around double the multiple of JBS, but analysts expect the addition of JBS to an American stock exchange to change that, which means JBS will have more buying power, and the competition is on. 'Food is a national security issue,' says Carlos Laboy, the lead analyst on JBS at HSBC. 'It benefits the United States to have the largest protein company in the world not only operated in the U.S. but listed in the U.S. and with the oversight of U.S. regulators. The alternative scenarios are not favorable to the U.S.'
CNBC
13-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Shares of Brazilian meat giant JBS open at $13.65 in U.S. public market debut
Shares of Brazilian meat giant JBS made their U.S. public market debut on Friday, opening at $13.65 a share. The company is now trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "JBS," a day later than initially expected. JBS said it couldn't conclude certain operational procedures in time to debut on Thursday. Its stock was delisted from the Sao Paolo Exchange in Brazil a week ago as part of the plan. Since its founding more than seven decades ago, JBS has grown to become the world's largest meatpacking company. Last year, the company reported net revenue of $77.2 billion and net income of $2 billion, according to regulatory filings. JBS operates a sprawling business worldwide, with significant divisions in Brazil, the U.S. and Australia. The company also owns more than 80% of Pilgrim's Pride, the U.S. poultry giant. JBS's U.S. listing is more than 15 years in the making. The company's U.S. subsidiary first announced plans to go public in 2009, but the move never came to fruition after two postponements. Then, in late 2016, the company said it would have a U.S. initial public offering as part of a broader reorganization strategy. But months later, the Brazilian government began investigating corruption in the meatpacking company — including among JBS and its top executives. J&F Investimentos, the holding company that owns a controlling stake in JBS, paid a $3.2 billion fine in 2017 to settle bribery charges. Former chair Joesley Batista and his older brother CEO Wesley Batista, the company's top shareholders and the sons of its founder, managed to avoid prison sentences by cooperating with prosecutors. The Batistas and J&F settled with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2020 for roughly $27 million. The Batistas exited J&F in the wake of the scandal. However, they returned to the company's board last year after being acquitted of insider trading charges. More recently, in October, the Brazilian government fined JBS for buying cattle that were allegedly illegally raised in protected land in the Amazon. The company's history of corruption and bribery allegations led to opposition to its U.S. listing from lawmakers on the both sides of the aisle, making it look unlikely that regulators would grant their approval. After President Donald Trump's reelection, JBS's subsidiary Pilgrim's Pride donated $5 million to his inaugration committee, making it the single largest donor. In a statement to CNBC at the time, the company said it had a "long bipartisan history participating in the civic process" and looked forward to working with the new administration. The SEC approved JBS's request to list on the New York Stock Exchange in April. JBS shareholders approved the move by a narrow margin the following month.
Reuters
13-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Brazil beef barons' Wall Street listing caps a return from exile
GUARUJA, Brazil, June 13 - Brazilian meatpacker JBS begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, capping a stunning comeback by brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista less than a decade after they were jailed in a record-breaking corruption scandal and forced into the backseat of their global food empire. A U.S. listing for the world's biggest meatpacker, which the company has sought since 2009, comes as the brothers, now back on the board of JBS, have also recovered much of their vaunted influence among Brazil's political elite. Their prominence was on display on Saturday when Wesley Batista, fresh off a trip to Paris with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, took the stage to discuss the economic outlook with Brazil's central bank chief and senior bankers. Batista was in good spirits, pushing back against some of the criticism that Brazilian business leaders have leveled against Lula's leftist government. "We need to look at what's working too, because everyone here is making investment plans and growing," he told the beachside gathering in Sao Paulo state, drawing applause. Few business leaders can match the brothers' access in the capital Brasilia. Lula's public agenda shows that one or both have appeared alongside the president during at least five public events since last year. They have also held several private meetings with Lula and his ministers, two people with knowledge of the cabinet's private schedules said. JBS said its meetings with public officials adhere to its code of conduct. The presidential press office did not respond to questions about the meetings. It is a far cry from the brothers' nadir nearly a decade ago, when they confessed to bribing hundreds of politicians, stepped away from their corporate empire and spent months in jail fighting insider trading allegations. "They're back because they're investing," said a person close to Brazil's presidency. JBS operates hundreds of meatpacking plants across more than 20 countries, rivaling Tyson Foods (TSN.N), opens new tab in the U.S. beef market and ranking among Brazil's biggest companies by revenue and employment. The Batistas' parent company, J&F, has expanded across the Brazilian economy into banking, energy and logistics. A $5 million donation by JBS subsidiary Pilgrim's Pride (PPC.O), opens new tab to the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee underscored the growing global reach of their influence. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren grilled JBS in a public letter last month, suggesting the donation and subsequent approval of the U.S. listing by the Securities Exchange Commission within months "raise serious concerns about a potential quid-pro-quo arrangement." In response to questions about the donation, JBS said that Pilgrim's "has a long bipartisan history of participating in the civic process." The brothers' rehabilitation extends beyond politics. After years embroiled in Brazil's biggest-ever corruption scandal, Operation Car Wash, J&F has secured a court order suspending a $2 billion fine for its role in the scheme. At the height of the scandal, the brothers admitted to bribing some 1,800 politicians. In 2017, Joesley Batista recorded a conversation allegedly discussing a bribery scheme with then-President Michel Temer as part of a plea bargain deal. The Batista brothers, who stepped away from JBS leadership positions during stretches of the scandal, were later arrested for alleged insider trading based on that sealed plea deal. They were later acquitted in the case. In 2023, a Brazilian Supreme Court justice suspended the fine against J&F in their plea deal, accepting the argument that prosecutors were biased at the time. The case awaits wider review by the court. "The conflicts of the past were well handled in a conciliatory way," said Fabio Medina Osorio, Brazil's solicitor general during the Temer administration.
Bloomberg
11-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Billionaire Brothers Behind Meat Giant Eye NY Debut
Billionaire brothers Wesley and Joesley Batista helped turn a modest Brazilian slaughterhouse started by their father into the world's largest meat company through almost two decades of shrewd acquisitions. Along the way, they confessed to bribing hundreds of politicians, served several months in jail and drew the ire of environmentalists. Now the brothers, who control the $15.2 billion company, will need to convince global investors that the governance issues and other concerns are well behind them as they embark on a new frontier that's been years in the making: a US share listing.
Bloomberg
23-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Meat Producer JBS Says US Listing Plan Approved by Minority Shareholders
JBS SA 's minority shareholders approved a restructuring plan that clears the way for the listing of the world's largest meat producer in New York, according to a company filing. The move will transfer ownership of the Brazilian company to a newly formed Netherlands-based entity, which will trade on the New York Stock Exchange. It also creates a dual-class share structure that will give its controlling shareholders — the brothers Wesley and Joesley Batista — increased voting power.
