What’s the fastest way to end up with a million dollars? Starting with two million dollars.
It can take a lifetime to build a fortune but only a few bad decisions to lose it all. No matter how much money you have, it is possible to wind up with nothing; and recently a number of famous billionaires have done just that. Whether you have $100,000 or $100 million, you can make the same mistakes. Consider yourself warned.
From Billions To Bust:
Eike Batista
Loss: Over $30 billion
Reason: Over-promised and under-delivered on business results
Just a few years ago, Brazilian entrepreneur Eike Batista was one of the 10 wealthiest people in the world with a fortune that surpassed $30 billion. Most of that money came through his equity holdings in publicly traded conglomerate EBX Group and related holdings in the oil, gas, logistics and mining sectors.
The value of this equity was largely due to Batista’s claims regarding the company’s energy reserves, revolutionary efficiency and operating prowess. But as his companies went public and were subject to greater scrutiny, a different reality started to emerge. His companies had vastly overstated the oil and gas reserves they earned; operating and profit targets were missed; Batista lost his credibility and the stock prices of his companies plummeted over 99 percent. His energy company OGX, the crown jewel of his empire, recently filed for bankruptcy.
Who is Mike Periu?
Mike Periu is the President of Proximo, LLC, a company that markets education and training programs to small business owners, entrepreneurs and consumers.
Mike Periu has been interviewed over 500 times for broadcasters including CNN, NBC TVE, RTE and others. Mike is a contributing author to OpenForum, Yahoo! Finanzas and the Huffington Post.
Mike graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. His degrees are in Finance and International Business. In addition to his work Mike is also on the Board of the Council for Economic Education.
