While early votes showed disfavor for the controversial brothers, the final tally gives them approval.
This article was originally published in WATTPoultry.
Brothers Wesley Batista and Joesley Batista will return to the JBS board after all.
The Brazil-based meat and poultry company held its annual meeting on April 26, and on the agenda were votes for each of the brothers, who previously held high-level leadership positions for the company that was founded by their father, José Batista Sobrinho.
Wesley was previously the CEO of JBS and Joesley was previously the chairman. Both stepped down from those roles in 2017 amid a corruption scandal, but both were acquitted of insider trading charges in 2023.
According to information on the Final Consolidated Voting Map, which can be accessed on the JBS investor relations website, both brothers received more than 1.2 billion votes in favor of them regaining board positions. Joesley received 247,237,224 million votes against him, while Wesley had 246,982,890 votes against him.
Prior to the final vote, JBS released a notice, which revealed that 142,372,606 votes were cast in favor of naming Joesley to the board, but 247,785,915 voted against his appointment. Wesley received 142,626,940 votes in favor and 247,531,581 votes in opposition.
The Basita brothers’ holding company J&F Investimentos controls nearly 1.08 billion JBS shares, and it is believed that those votes were what was able to tip the scales in the brothers’ favor.
Earlier in the year, the brothers were elected to the Pilgrim’s Pride board. JBS holds the majority of Pilgrim’s Pride shares.
Protest held on day of vote
On the same day the JBS annual meeting was held in Brazil, a protest was held in the United States.
An advocacy group called Ban the Batistas formed in November 2023 when JBS announced its intent to list shares through an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). If approved, JBS would be jointly listed on the NYSE and Brazil’s São Paulo Stock Exchange (B3).
The group gathered outside of the NYSE offices to make its opposition to a potential joint listing known. The group has been critical of the brothers not only for their alleged corruption, but also for alleged deforestation and other environmental concerns.
“An IPO on America’s largest capital market will gift JBS and the Batistas easier access to capital – allowing them to continue their unchecked power grab and ruthless track record of destruction,” Ban the Batistas Executive Director Kimberly Spell said at the protest.
Following the JBS board vote, Spell stated: ““The shareholder vote to reinstate the Batista brothers to JBS’s board proves what we have known all along: the game is rigged, and these corrupt billionaire criminals will stop at nothing in their quest to dominate the U.S. food industry and brazenly defy accountability.
“A majority of shares not cast by the Batistas either rejected or did not support their election. When even their own shareholders tell them to stay away, that is a powerful indictment of the brothers. It’s now the SEC’s turn to reject the Batistas and say no to their IPO.”
