Bill Gates sues Petrobras!

Old Gates is no stranger to been tied up in Litigation himself ....remember when Apple sued him!

Anyone remember this clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK6SS8CXYZo

Not a nice thing to have happen to anyone, but funny as heck to watch. Guess getting a pie in the face is sure a lot better than some other things that could have happened.

Cheers,
James

It is a funny clip,especially that little hand wave and smile before he gets pied , actually I don't have any problem with
Bill Gates , I think he's basically a decent guy , just a bit ruthless in business , but I respect the fortune that he made!

I read up on this pie thing , apparently he didn't press charges , the pie thrower was fined 70 euros then released and it was done by
a famous group in Belgium who have pied a few notable politicians and celebrities.

Things are definitely not looking good for Petrobras !

Everyone is focusing on the corruption scandal but are ignoring the cost of mismanagement - during the last quarterly presentation PB estimated the cost of the corruption scandal to 2-3 billion R$ if i remember correctly but at the same time  they wrote off 17 billion R$ on the two refineries they have been building - one south of Rio and another one in the state of Ceara. Now all work has been stopped on both of the refinieries and according to some figures PB has so far used 50 billion R$ in total on both of the refineries and if the stop is permanent it has been wasted money (And it does not take a long stop before it is just scrap metal and they would have to start over)

Just an example - 3-4 years ago PB received two large turbine generators ment for the refinery south of Rio from an Italian manufacturer. It turned out that they where so heavy that PB was not allowed to transport them by road the few miles to the refinery. Instead of finding a solution to the problem (or, of course, forsee it) the generators has been sitting at the port in Rio ever since.

Everyone seems transfixed about the corruption but when you look at the figures mismanagement is a much bigger problem for PB. This company used to be the pride of Brazil but it was just smoke and air. Back in 2007-2008 when the company went public and was listed on NYSE both the company management and Lula claimed that Brazil would be producing 20 million bbls of oil per day by 2020. Then Graca Foster took over as CEO and the estimate was reduced to 4,2 million bbls pr day and now it has been reduced to 2.8 million bbls pr day by 2020.

PB will probably have to pay some compensation to shareholders due to the corruption - unless they are able to reclaim most of the money - but i can not see that the shareholders can claim compensation for bad management. When you buy shares there is always risk involved and it was no secret that PT was in complete control of the company before they went public. It will be interesting to follow the trails in US - they will certainly uncover more facts about what has been going on inside this company and how politicians has destroyed it.

PB has dropped more than 90% since they went public and if the goverment was smart they would delist it, refinance and get their finances back on track. The problem is that the same politicians who has destroyed the company would have to do it . not a good recipie for sucess.

Either way, the oil is out there and the value could be a great benefit for the Brazilian population. And in my opinion the worst thing that could happen is to hand it all over to the big multinational oil companies - we have seen many times before how that turns out. Maybe leave it in the ground for the next generation ? Hopefully Brazil then would have learned from their mistakes and, even if a company is government owned, leave it to the professionals to run it, and then let the public reap the benefits.

Hi there
in the late 70s early 80s a great lady come to power in England """Margret Thatcher""""",
this lady sold British Petroleum, Some of you out there might know it as BP she released that no governments on this earth can run business, but government are good at collecting tax's,
this lot should sell  Petrobras, and fast, and just get the tax's

I have tried to make investments and do business here in Brasil for some time now. I have learned  one great truth about this "Land of the future", the culture of corruption runs deep. That is to say that whatever the outcome of the PB scandal and lawsuits, it would not change much. I cannot stress enough that anyone not raised in Brasil must turn off the switch in their head that defines how business should be carried out. In Europe and the USA a scandal the scale of PB is unimaginable! In Brasil, it's just another day. SMH.

PS: I'm not a fan of Bill Gates and Microsoft but, if you try to make your point using violence, then you are WRONG.

Hi exnyer,

Not advisable for anyone from the USofA to "turn off the switch" on how they think business should be done. They have a little thing called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) (15 U.S.C. § 78dd-1, et seq.) is a United States federal law known primarily for two of its main provisions, one that addresses accounting transparency requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and another concerning bribery of foreign officials.

US citizens paying bribes here in Brazil could find themselves facing lengthy jail sentences back home if they don't observe the provisions of the FCPA to the letter.

Cheers,
James  Expat-blog Experts Team

As an American, I am accustomed to a certain amount of accountability and honesty in business dealings. My comment was meant to address this state of mind. It seems I must be more detailed in my comments. IN MY EXPERIENCE, no one here thinks that paying taxes is part a of business. I have found that many try not to account for their transactions so as to avoid taxes. I have also found that many, NOT ALL, small businesses are so harassed by government regulations that don't make sense, they find id easier to violate ALL THE REGULATIONS. As a potential investor, I could not work up a sense of trust for these business people. I understand the problems, but the CULTURE OF CORRUPTION HERE at all levels is something my American programming cannot abide. I did not need to know the specific laws you quoted to know that the business practices I've WITNESSED would be held against me (as an American) more that the Brasilians who do know better.

Yes sir.... you've accurately summed up the business ethic here in Brazil. Most Brazilians would avoid paying any taxes if they could and who can really blame them in a country where just trying to pay the right amount of taxes is a daunting task. Brazil has the most complex tax laws on the planet, and believe it or not they add around 46 new ones every single day. Even tax experts can't keep up with it. Then of course, even though they've changed the rules in the middle of the game, they come down hard on the poor schlock that was unaware that the cards were being stacked against him while he wasn't looking.

The Brazilian government hasn't twigged into the idea that you get more tax compliance with less and simpler rules. The more complex your rules and the more onerous they are, the more you encourage evasion. But, that's Brazil... here it's all about taxes, taxes and more taxes. That's exactly why foreign investment has tanked.

The corruption we're talking about however is not about taxes, but rather the attempts to circumvent licensing, and permits and contract bidding procedures at all levels of government from the federal level on down to the municipal. Here it's almost obligatory to grease somebody's palm just to get them to do the job that the taxpayers are already paying them to do. That's what really goes against the grain with most of us.

Cheers,
James