The richest man in Brazil, Eike Batista, saw his worth go down 74% this year. He lost more than US$30 million after selling his shares in several companies. The cause of the sale was a failure to meet targets in output in his oil exploration investment.

The billionaire partly based his decisions on a report by DeGolyer & MacNaughton, a consulting firm. The report estimated oil resources in OGX Petroleo & Gas Participacoes SA to be 10.8 billion barrels. DeGolyer & MacNaughton stated that the services they offer their clients were confidential in the form of an emailed response to questions.

According to Batista, "auditors are partly to blame for building up shareholder expectations on the same day General Electric Co. (GE) said it wrote down a $300 million investment in his holding company." Batista added, "I was as surprised as every one of my investors, partners and the market. Maybe I put too much trust in people who didn't deserve that confidence, but in the end the responsibility is all mine."