The trend before the crisis was of a continuous currency appreciation, and this rapid reversion resulted in the huge losses experienced by Aracruz. No other macroeconomic shock could have conceivably made the Brazilian currency depreciate 23% in a month, especially in a scenario in which the country was the recipient of copious amounts of foreign capital. Since early 2010 the appreciation process has returned, with the Real returning to its pre-level crisis in mid-2011. The financial crisis unveiled many badly designed strategies in financial and non-financial companies, either directly or indirectly. In the present context the linkage between the crisis and Aracruz‟s downfall is indirect, but we argue that other than an extreme event like the financial crisis the company could have survived. If there was only a simple mistake in computing risks, any market movement that would make the company incur in losses would not result in such hefty losses as the company experienced in 2008.