Chloe Sorvino

Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed, and the Fight for the Future of Meat Buy Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed, and the Fight for the Future of Meat on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders

And for behind-the-scenes of the bribery saga that led to the Batistas pleading guilty to charges of foreign corruption with the SEC in 2020, read my book Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed and the Fight for the Future of Meat: www.amazon.com/Raw-Deal-Hid...

Despite A History Of Bribery And Corruption, JBS, The World’s Largest Meat Packager, Prepares To Go Public Joesley and Wesley Batista, the billionaire brothers behind JBS, went to jail after paying off more than 1,800 politicians in their native Brazil and have struggled to launch a public offering in the ...

I’ve covered JBS and the scandals surrounding it for years.

For more on what the listing means, read my latest Forbes story: www.forbes.com/sites/chloes...

And one published in May about the timing of a donation to Trump’s Inauguration: www.forbes.com/sites/chloes...

For a decade, JBS has tried to list on the NYSE. But attempts have been abandoned due to scandals involving the Batistas and their holding company—including bribes to Brazilian meat inspectors, kickbacks to government financiers and illegal campaign contributions.

JBS is owned nearly 50% by entities controlled by the billionaire brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista.

The net worths of Joesley and Wesley Batista increased an estimated $200M each. The brothers, who are the top shareholders and directors, are now worth $4.8B each.

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.

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 close of markets, the stock was back up and closed around 5% up and the market capitalization of JBS was over $31B

In the first hours since the world’s largest meatpacker began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker JBS, the stock had a slow start. But shares ended the day up 5%.

I’ve covered JBS and the scandals surrounding it for years.

For more on what the listing means, read my latest Forbes feature: www.forbes.com/sites/chloes...

And for the behind-the-scenes of the Batistas' bribery saga, read my book Raw Deal: www.amazon.com/Raw-Deal-Hid...

After the greenlight, the last step was today's vote.

About 30% of JBS is owned by public shareholders—including institutions like Vanguard, BlackRock and Fidelity.

And today enough of those shareholders voted to approve the listing. JBS is expected to begin trading on June 12.

The long-delayed SEC approval came just two days after it was revealed in a public filing that the largest donor to Trump's Inauguration fund was the JBS subsidiary, chicken processor Pilgrim’s Pride. The $5M donation was 5x larger than the checks given by Amazon, Meta and Uber.

For a decade, JBS has tried to list on the NYSE. But several attempts have been abandoned due to scandals involving the Batistas—including bribes to Brazilian meat inspectors, kickbacks to government financiers and illegal campaign contributions to 1,800 Brazilian politicians.

Earlier this today, the shareholders of the world’s largest meatpacker, JBS, took a vote today on if the company should be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The business is owned nearly 50% by entities controlled by the billionaire brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista.

Despite A History Of Bribery And Corruption, JBS, The World’s Largest Meat Packager, Prepares To Go Public Joesley and Wesley Batista, the billionaire brothers behind JBS, went to jail after paying off more than 1,800 politicians in their native Brazil and have struggled to launch a public offering in the ...

"Despite A History Of Bribery And Corruption Among Top Shareholders, The World’s Largest Meatpacker Prepares To Go Public"

@chloesorvino.bsky.social for @forbes.com

Despite A History Of Bribery And Corruption, JBS, The World’s Largest Meat Packager, Prepares To Go Public Joesley and Wesley Batista, the billionaire brothers behind JBS, went to jail after paying off more than 1,800 politicians in their native Brazil and have struggled to launch a public offering in the ...

I’ll be watching this NYSE listing closely, so expect more from me on JBS soon.

Until then, get all the details here: www.forbes.com/sites/chloes...
www.simonandschuster.com/books/Raw-De...

Experts say strong independent voices on the board of an NYSE-listed JBS are a must.

But, as it stands, the board of directors will include Joesley and Wesley Batista, who were forced to leave the board when they were arrested in 2017.

According to the DOJ indictment against J&F, the bribe Joesley Batista deposited into a U.S. bank account for a BNDES finance minister was more than $55 million.

In all, the DOJ and SEC found evidence of some $150 million in kickbacks.

Here’s a highlight:

In 2009 the Batistas targeted America’s second-largest chicken processor, which they viewed as a bargain, and after securing $2 billion in financing from the Brazilian state bank BNDES, the acquisition closed.

In my book Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed and the Fight for the Future of Meat, there’s a play-by-play of how their bribes went down and even more wild instances—including alleged bribes to three of Brazil’s presidents.

Read it here: www.simonandschuster.com/books/Raw-De...

J&F also paid nearly $27 million over foreign corruption charges with the SEC in 2020.

At the same time, the Batistas, who are Brazilian citizens, settled a civil penalty with the SEC and paid $550,000 each.

And now the Trump Administration has stopped enforcing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

It previously led to JBS parent company J&F paying a $128 million criminal fine as part of a 2020 settlement with the Department of Justice in which J&F pleaded guilty to corruption charges

The billionaire brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista 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 extensive bribery scheme) that saw them briefly jailed for about six months

Any one of those issues would have ended most other companies’ prospects of going public on the American market. But following the SEC’s recent decision, JBS is looking to offer shares on the New York Stock Exchange in June, pending a shareholder vote later this month.

That is in addition to accusations in the U.S. of JBS (and companies it owns) price-fixing, wage-manipulating and violating child labor laws, plus allegations of discrimination and harassment.

The U.S. listing has been delayed several times over the past decade due to a deluge of scandals—including bribes to Brazilian meat inspectors, kickbacks to government financiers and illegal campaign contributions.

Joesley and Wesley Batista, the billionaire brothers behind JBS, went to jail after paying off 1,800 politicians in Brazil and have struggled to launch an offering in the U.S. But after one of their companies donated $5M to Trump’s inauguration, their SEC troubles disappeared.

Despite A History Of Bribery And Corruption, JBS, The World’s Largest Meat Packager, Prepares To Go Public Joesley and Wesley Batista, the billionaire brothers behind JBS, went to jail after paying off more than 1,800 politicians in their native Brazil and have struggled to launch a public offering in the ...

Hello, Bluesky! I’ve been hot on the trail covering JBS, the world’s largest meatpacker, for many years, and my feature out this morning is really the culmination of nearly a decade of reporting. Excited to share it with you.

Read it here:
www.forbes.com/sites/chloes...

would love to be included in the next batch! I cover food and agriculture for Forbes.