Thursday, January 17, 2008

Meet the Slims

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The Carlos Slim legacy has terrific endurance value

Visit The Carlos Slim legacy has terrific endurance value  the land of Mexico and you will instantly feel the strong presence of this man in the everyday life of Mexicans. His influence over this erstwhile Spanish colony would instantly invite comparisons with the Ambanis & Tatas in India. And unlike these behemoths, Carlos Slim has amassed his huge wealth from mainly two sectors – telecom & finance. And just through his holdings in these two sectors, his iconic status in Mexico is well known. No wonder that George W. Grayson, a professor of Government at the College of William & Mary, aptly coined a terminology, “Slimlandia” to define Mexico.

And recently, at the age of 67, Slim became a symbol of Mexican, and for that matter, Third World resurgence, by taking the mantle of the richest man in the world; overtaking Bill Gates with a marginal difference of $1 billion. This development is in sync with a surge in the American Movil stock that increased Slim’s net worth by another $12 billion this year to $59 billion. His family’s holdings representing over 5% of Mexico’s GDP in 2006 and the companies under his control amount to 1/3rd of the Mexican Bolsa (stock exchange).

Slim is of Lebanese descent but he has totally adopted a typical Mexican living, which is quite obvious with the cigar he puff s and his manner of speech. Among the mantras of business, he is also an ardent art collector and boasts of being a philanthropist. One of his famous one liners on good economics goes thus, “When everybody else is better off , they can buy more, they strengthen demand, strengthen the market, strengthen the country.”

Slim’s No ‘Slim’ fortune, though!appearance is oft en matched to the legendary J.P. Morgan and his meteoric rise is compared to John D. Rockefeller, as the latter had similarly taken undue advantage of weak regulatory norms in the American oil sector. His wealth sings the saga of his Mexican wireless monopoly, as he controls over 92% of Mexico’s phone lines via Telefonos de Mexico. “Twenty years ago, Mexico’s phone system was a joke. However, new wireless technology has changed the quality of Mexico’s phone system,” quotes Jeff Kagan, Wireless and Telecom Industry Analyst, Commentator, Provocateur. But his most stinging criticism comes from the fact that thanks to his monopoly, Mexican telecom customers still bear the brunt of high tariff s. States an OECD report on Mexico, “Although telecom tariff s have fallen, they remain significantly higher than in most OECD countries...”

Born in 1940 in Mexico, Slim is a widower and a father of six. Slim graduated with B.Sc. from National Autonomous University of Mexico. By the age of 17, he was investing in the stock market and by the mid-1960s; he was putting bucks in various businesses that formed ‘Grupo Carso.’ During the 1982 economic crash, Slim executed his business interests so efficiently that within a decade, it gift ed him very high returns. Once a maths instructor, he built his empire by following his father’s words, “Though Mexico will have its ups and downs, don’t ever count the country out.” And Mexico was always on Slim’s cards when it came to amassing huge wealth that comprises American Movil ($31 billion), Carso global telecom ($12.9 billion), Grupo Carso ($7.1 billion), Inbursa ($5.6 billion), Ideal ($1.7 billion) & SAKS Inc. ($263 million).

Indeed, Slim has always been in form when it comes to making money but after his heart surgery in 1997, his sons Carlos Jr., Marco Antonio & Patrick have taken over the business. More than the wealth, his sons have inherited their father’s shrewd business skills and the art of multiplying money. And they all seem to have picked it up so flawlessly, that we could well expect the Slims right up there on the Fortune rich list for years to come!

Edit bureau: Romsha Singh

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2007

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IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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