Overview

• Shares of JBS opened on the New York Stock Exchange at $13.65 and closed at $14.29, giving the company a market capitalization exceeding $31 billion.
• The SEC approved JBS’s U.S. listing in April after shareholders narrowly backed the plan in May, ending a delay triggered by 2017 bribery allegations.
• Joesley and Wesley Batista once admitted to bribing about 1,800 politicians and paid more than $3 billion in fines before being acquitted of insider trading and returning to JBS’s board last year.
• The Batista brothers have regained access to Brazil’s political elite through high-profile meetings with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and JBS’s Pilgrim’s Pride subsidiary donated $5 million to President Trump’s inaugural committee.
• Analysts say the U.S. listing will boost JBS’s buying power and intensify competition with rivals such as Tyson Foods.