Eike Batista Quotes

100 Eike Batista Quotes

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There was almost a military concept of logistics where you depend almost 100 percent on yourself. But I was going to produce a product that I had to ship out by plane.
Eike Batista

The mine was so rich it was totally idiot-proof. It survived all my mistakes.
Eike Batista

I always looked for rich mines, and I keep this culture up today.
Eike Batista

[On having success too early] It also brings arrogance because you can come to think that you can fly. It’s very dangerous.
Eike Batista

I went into a very interesting diversification phase in the 1990s when I started a Jeep factory in Brazil… every single man would like to build his own car. So there I was trying to build my own Jeep. That was a failure that taught me a lot.
Eike Batista

[On having to close down his jeep factory] It taught me that it’s important to shut down your company when it’s not going well and close it down properly… It was a humbling exercise.
Eike Batista

[On car distribution] You can’t have a success if your dealership network isn’t big enough to provide good service…
Eike Batista

I was probably ahead of my time with one missing link…
Eike Batista

I learned in all these years to read people and one of my best qualities today is to get the best out of incredibly qualified engineers and geologists.
Eike Batista

I have the best of the best. This is probably my biggest strength today.
Eike Batista



I consider myself today as a massive arbitrager of inefficiencies using state-of-the-art concepts and equipment.
Eike Batista

It’s incomprehensible that America doesn’t have high-speed rail between major cities.
Eike Batista

The European car fleet has twice the energy efficiency than America.
Eike Batista

I know how to read geology.
Eike Batista

Brazil has allowed me to break the Petrobras monopoly.
Eike Batista

I have fifty executive directors in eight companies. If I want to talk to a director, I walk into his office, sit in front of him, and let him tell me his story.
Eike Batista

I would advise young people to leave their comfort zone. Go somewhere and don’t say to yourself, ‘If I live in Rio de Janeiro and so that is where I need to find a job or start a business.’ This country is big. The fact that I went out to the Amazon gave me a new dimension, a new way to look at opportunity.
Eike Batista

Stress or pressure is important. Stress can destroy some people, but in certain dosages I think it’s extremely welcome. It tests you, and it prepares you for meeting bigger challenges.
Eike Batista

Entrepreneurs also need to take a long-term view. Projects that have quality take three to five years to be built. In my business, you can’t think in the short term because this is a tropical mentality. This country’s abundance has not helped investors or entrepreneurs to think longer term. I think of Brazil fifty to one hundred years forward.
Eike Batista

I have a mandate to make Brazil very efficient…
Eike Batista



We will now host the Olympics. Our economy is booming. It’s creating a lot of new jobs. And we’re proving that we are not only a country of soccer and samba.
Eike Batista

If Brazilians are proud of having the best soccer player in the world or the most beautiful model, why not also be proud of having the best leaders in business?
Eike Batista

The essence is making society as a whole think in terms of community and sharing.
Eike Batista

We have created a base through our different companies - oil being the biggest one - to basically have a ten-year growth history. This is quite unique.
Eike Batista

[In 2010] I think by 2020, Brazil - you know, actually the president is saying this, and we believe that by 2015 already Brazil should be the fifth-largest economy in the world. And we’re just one of the many companies that is helping Brazil grow.
Eike Batista

It was a different seed that was planted in me.
Eike Batista

In my education… stress was very important.
Eike Batista

On educating his children to ensure they have the same drive that he has] They’re going to have to go through stress also. It’s vital for them. A year ago, my oldest son, I sent them to work in a garage. And at night he came home and said ‘Daddy, it’s very hot under a car.’ Right, well, you have to go through this. Otherwise you won’t occupy the position of your father. I tell them to concentrate.
Eike Batista

I learned to only work with world-class assets, rich assets that can afford mistakes - mistakes, delays.
Eike Batista

Gold cycle. When gold was up I was in Switzerland, when gold was down I was in Bangladesh.
Eike Batista



I built eight gold mines between 1980 and the year 2000 around the world, five in Brazil, one big one in Chile, and two in Canada. The South American mines are still running. So great successes.
Eike Batista

There was an unpolished diamond, there was a mountain with $5 billion worth of gold and silver and I would have an 80 percent margin mining it.
Eike Batista

There was massive wealth there that had obviously to be engineered correctly - I had to bring water, I had to bring power. But there was enough wealth there to pay for the bills.
Eike Batista

Mining has a lot to do with logistics.
Eike Batista

Logistics means if you build a mine in the middle of nowhere, you have to secure your water, you have to build your town, you have to have your power generation. You think like a military operation.
Eike Batista

[In 2010 on what he believes his net worth could become in ten years time] $100 billion.
Eike Batista

We take care of social and environmental issues right from the beginning, not after when you start making profit.
Eike Batista

[In 2010 on Brazil] China has already surpassed the U.S. as our largest trading partner.
Eike Batista

Most things that the Chinese need we have in abundance and we can export…
Eike Batista

[In 2010] The Chinese are coming to Brazil also to, because they found out that it’s cheaper to produce steel in Brazil than it is in China.
Eike Batista



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