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And from there it was a life worthy of the silver screen - he married a Playboy model, entered speedboat contests, and made s fortune of $34.5 billion. Batista told everyone that would listen that he would soon be the richest man in the world.
That was the spring of 2012. Since then Batista has lost 99% of his wealth. His commodities empire, EBX, is on the verge of utter collapse. Creditors are calling, and this week Batista did not pay a $47 million interest payment on his oil and gas company's (OGX) bonds.
If he doesn't pay by October 30th, OGX will be the biggest corporate default in Latin American history.
What Batista is doing is making yet another massive bet on himself. He wants bondholders to restructure his over $3 billion of debt, give him more cash, and allow him to continue developing his empire.
He still believes he can make EBX great, but the market is losing patience.