Brazil’s Retail Billionaire Faces a Humiliating Ouster
- Abilio Diniz may be fired as chairman of poultry giant BRF
- It’s latest in series of corporate crises in Latin America
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At 81, Abilio Diniz is practically a legend in Brazil. Billionaire. Business guru. Author of two best-selling autobiographies. He’s even got more than 1 million Facebook followers.
Yet Diniz is now close to getting ousted as chairman of Brazil poultry giant BRF SA, an embarrassing spectacle for a man once hailed for his management acumen. He was named chairman five years ago, pledging to make the $7.4 billion food giant leaner and more profitable. But after a series of questionable moves and invigorated competition, BRF is today losing money, and investors are seeking to fire him and the rest of the board.