UNCLE'S PATINHAS AND TRILLIONS
In the 60s there was the story of the billionaire, hard-bread uncle Patinhas. He talked about billions, which, even with Brazilian inflation at the heights, were numbers of unattainable wealth. Then a list of billionaires from Forbes magazine appeared, which still distanced those they have from those they will never have.
Now we enter a new era that is of trillions, not reais, but dollars, which is still the reference currency. A company appears that is not the most popular brand on the planet, probably the absolute majority of people don't even know what they do, and it's worth five trillion dollars. Nvidia, chip manufacturer in the USA. Here comes again the richest man in the world, and also controversial, Elon Musk, inventor of Tesla, who has a heritage of 1 trillion dollars and requeims another trillion prize if Tesla's value rises from the current 1.4 trillion to 8.8 trillion in 10 years. Google, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon are investing 360 billion dollars in data centers and AI. OpenAI and Amazon close a 38 billion deal. And Oracle, another technology giant, will invest 300 billion in data center. Trump's son-in-law closes the purchase of a 55 billion gaming company. And 42 million Americans, 12% of the US population, depend on food stamps, government aid for the purchase of food.
The Brazilian Gross Domestic Product, in 2024, was 2.18 trillion dollars. From proud Minas, only 200 billion. And the most valuable Brazilian company, Nubank, is worth 80 billion dollars. By the way, a phenomenon, since in 12 years it has become the most valuable Brazilian, surpassing Petrobras. A digital bank versus an industry.
In conclusion, comparing these numbers, it comes to the conclusion that Brazil is worth less than half of Nvidia and Musk can buy half of Brazil, with everything included. Wealth today is in digital, in business models that generate trillions and whose change is billions. The success of Nubank, founded by a Colombian and partners, shows that it is possible to reach a level of competition. But, in the AI that today absorbs a good part of the capital available in the world, by the way regardless of its results, already creating doubt whether there will be a return, we are out of competition.
The trillion size of this economy, including overvaluation of stocks, reminds us of reading Andrew Sorkin's book, 1929. It's about the crash that broke the world economy, an endless spiral of the stock market that broke the world. By the way, in the 70s there was in Brazil this phenomenon that produced the imaginary actions called Merposa, unpronounceable but available on the internet. Distinguish what is real from the imaginary of greed. Perhaps remember Getúlio Vargas visiting the Cattle Fair in Uberaba, when they presented him with a super valuable bull, said: it is worth as much as it weighs.
