Joao Moreira Salles Net Worth

Net Worth: $2.7 Billion

• Source of Wealth          Banking, Filmmaking
• Birth Place                    Rio de Janeiro
• Marital Status               Divorced
• Full Name                    Joao Moreira Salles
• Nationality                   Brazil
• Date of Birth               1962

Brazilian documentary filmmaker Joao Moreira Salles has an estimated net worth of $2.7 billion as of March 2012. According to Forbes, he was the 442nd richest person during that year.

Mr. Salles is a director, screenwriter and film producer. He is best known as one of the greatest filmmakers of the new Brazilian generation. Among his notable works include News from a Private War (1999), Nelson Freire (2003), Entreatos (2004) and Santiago (2007).

In 1987, Joao Moreira Salles founded VideoFilmes along with his brother, Walter Salles, which initially focused on making documentaries for television. His first works included China, The Center of the Empire (1987) and America (1989) to name a few. These were displayed in the Network series Headline.

Aside from filmmaking, Mr. Salles is also into banking. He is a member of one of Brazil’s most distinguished banking families. In 2008, the family-owned Unibanco merged with Banco Itau. This made him one of the largest individual shareholders of Itau Unibanco SA, the second largest bank in Brazil.

Joao Moreira Salles is also the president of Instituto Moreira Salles, a non-profit foundation founded by Walter in 1990 and managed by the Moreira Salles family. It is created to promote the development of cultural projects in the areas of photography, literature, libraries, visual arts, and Brazilian music. His brothers, Walter, Pedro and Fernando Roberto, are also billionaires.