The Richest Man - Carlos Slim
Carlos Slim surpasses Bill Gates as the world’s richest man. Slim’s wealth is a staggering $59 billion.
So who is Carlos Slim?
Carlos Slim is a 67 year old Mexican telecommunications mogul. His current company holdings total $59 billion. His investments in telecommunications, financial services, and numerous other industries make Slim the richest man in the world.
Carlos is the son of a Mexico City shopkeeper who immigrated from Lebanon in the early 1900’s. Carlos started as a math instructor then turned investor and now self made billionaire. He followed his father’s financial teachings by investing in a wide range of businesses. He invested $55 million into an insurance company. He then pursued retail and hotel chains. Slim aggressively grew his profile using his shrewd business savvy. During the 1982 Mexican economic depression, Slim scooped up businesses right and left for pennies on the dollar. As the economy recovered, his investments rebounded dramatically. By the late 1980’s, Slim was one of Mexico’s most successful businessman. He now controls one third of Mexico’s stock exchange.
Here is a breakdown of Slim’s major holdings.
- America Movil (wireless) - $31 Billion
- Carso Global Telecom (holding company) - $12.9 Billion
- Grupo Carso (conglomerate) - $7.1 Billion
- Inbursa (financial services) - $5.6 Billion
- Ideal (infrastructure) - $1.7 Billion
- Saks Inc. (U.S. retail) - $263 Million
Slim maintained a very close relationship with several powerful government officials and political parties. This certainly made Slim’s acquisitions and monopolistic plans feasible. He neutralized all telecommunication competition as quickly as it arised. He put the brakes on AT&T’s and MCI’s plans to expand into Latin America by setting outrageously high rates to connect calls to his TelMex network. Slim continued to build his empire by acquiring several wireless assets from Verizon in Latin America. He then added AT&T Latin America and other phone assets to his telecom portfolio during the 2000 dot com crash. When opportunity knocks, Carlos Slim pounces on it with vigor.
Carlos Slim has three sons, Carlos Jr., Marco Antonio and Patrick. All three man strategic positions in the Slim empire.
Carlos Slim is without a doubt, an amazing businessman. He is cunning, clever and ruthless in his business pursuits. He’s all business. He runs many business from old buildings in lieu of fancy new high rise buildings. One of his companies, America Movil, runs out of an old tire factory. Just smart business sense.
I would have never imagined a businessman from Mexico to be the wealthiest man in the world, more wealthy than Microsoft’s Bill Gates, especially when we consider he is not a oil tycoon. Mexico is definitely not a poor country as many presume.