Carlos Slim: Difference between revisions
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==Early life== |
==Early life== |
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Slim was born in [[Mexico City]], [[Mexico]].<ref>[http://www.carlosslim.com/biografia_ing.html Carlos Slim official webpage]</ref> His father, Julián Slim Haddad, a [[Maronite Church|Syriac-Maronite]] Christian, immigrated to [[Mexico]] in 1902 from [[Lebanon]], alone at 14 years of age, speaking no Spanish. He fled the [[Ottoman Empire]], which at the time conscripted young men into forced labour. Carlos Slim's mother, Linda Helú, was born in [[Parral, Chihuahua|Parral]], [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]]. She was the daughter of José Helú and Wadiha Atta, [[Lebanese people|Lebanese]] immigrants who arrived in Mexico at the end of the 19th century. They founded one of the first magazines for the Lebanese community in the country. In 1911, Julián established a dry goods store called ''La Estrella del Oriente'' (The Star of the Orient) and purchased [[real estate]] in downtown Mexico City. In August 1926, Julián Slim and Linda Helú married in Mexico City. They had six children, of whom Carlos was the youngest son. Julian died in 1952.<ref>[http://richestmen.info Richest Men]</ref> |
Slim was born in [[Mexico City]], [[Mexico]].<ref>[http://www.carlosslim.com/biografia_ing.html Carlos Slim official webpage]</ref> His father, Julián Slim Haddad, a [[Maronite Church|Syriac-Maronite]] Christian, immigrated to [[Mexico]] in 1902 from [[Lebanon]], alone at 14 years of age, speaking no Spanish. He fled the [[Ottoman Empire]], which at the time conscripted young men into forced labour. Carlos Slim's mother, Linda Helú, was born in [[Parral, Chihuahua|Parral]], [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]]. She was the daughter of José Helú and Wadiha Atta, [[Lebanese people|Lebanese]] immigrants who arrived in Mexico at the end of the 19th century. They founded one of the first magazines for the Lebanese community in the country. In 1911, Julián established a dry goods store called ''La Estrella del Oriente'' (The Star of the Orient) and purchased [[real estate]] in downtown Mexico City. In August 1926, Julián Slim and Linda Helú married in Mexico City. They had six children, of whom Carlos was the youngest son. Carlos also ran track as a child Julian died in 1952.<ref>[http://richestmen.info Richest Men]</ref> |
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Slim studied engineering at the [[National Autonomous University of Mexico]]. By the time he was 26 years old, his net worth was $40 million.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8560812.stm | work=BBC News | title=Profile: Carlos Slim | date=March 10, 2010 | accessdate=April 28, 2010}}</ref> He married Soumaya Domit Gemayel, also a [[Lebanese-Mexican]], in 1967. They had six children and were married for 32 years until Domit died of a kidney ailment in 1999. The youngest of their three daughters, Johanna, is married to Arturo Elías Ayub, a board member of some of Slim's companies. |
Slim studied engineering at the [[National Autonomous University of Mexico]]. By the time he was 26 years old, his net worth was $40 million.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8560812.stm | work=BBC News | title=Profile: Carlos Slim | date=March 10, 2010 | accessdate=April 28, 2010}}</ref> He married Soumaya Domit Gemayel, also a [[Lebanese-Mexican]], in 1967. They had six children and were married for 32 years until Domit died of a kidney ailment in 1999. The youngest of their three daughters, Johanna, is married to Arturo Elías Ayub, a board member of some of Slim's companies. |
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Revision as of 16:23, 5 February 2011
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Carlos Slim | |
|---|---|
 Carlos Slim, October 24, 2007 | |
| Born | January 28, 1940 |
| Nationality | Mexican |
| Alma mater | Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México |
| Occupation(s) | Chairman & CEO of Telmex, América Móvil and Grupo Carso |
| Known for | World's richest person |
| Spouse | Soumaya Domit (m. 1967–1999) |
| Children | Carlos Marco Antonio Patrick Soumaya Vanessa Johanna |
| Parent(s) | Julian Slim Haddad (deceased) Linda Helu |
Carlos Slim Helú (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkarlos eˈslim eˈlu]; born January 28, 1940) is a Lebanese-Mexican business magnate, philanthropist and the chairman and CEO of Telmex, América Móvil. His extensive holdings in a considerable number of Mexican companies through his conglomerate, Grupo Carso, SA de CV, Carso represented about 18 percent of Slim’s $65 billion in public holdings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. About two-thirds of that wealth comes from Slim’s stake in America Movil SAB, Latin America’s largest mobile-phone carrier increased 26 percent in 2010. His net worth is now estimated at 74.5 billion dollars — 15.5 billion more than last year,[1] Slim’s best earners were his stock in Latin American telephone behemoth America Movil, up 15 percent, and his 42-percent increase in holdings of financial giant Grupo Financiero Inbursa and Construction company IDEAL, up by 31 percent. Sentido Comun director Eduardo Garcia said that Slim probably has more investment in private companies that is not revealed so easily, and that the 74.5-billion-dollar figure was only a minimum guess at his riches, amassed interests in the fields of communications, technology, retailing, and finance.[2] As of April 2010, he is the wealthiest person in the world with a net worth of around US$53.5 billion.[3][4]
Early life
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2010) |
Slim was born in Mexico City, Mexico.[5] His father, Julián Slim Haddad, a Syriac-Maronite Christian, immigrated to Mexico in 1902 from Lebanon, alone at 14 years of age, speaking no Spanish. He fled the Ottoman Empire, which at the time conscripted young men into forced labour. Carlos Slim's mother, Linda Helú, was born in Parral, Chihuahua. She was the daughter of José Helú and Wadiha Atta, Lebanese immigrants who arrived in Mexico at the end of the 19th century. They founded one of the first magazines for the Lebanese community in the country. In 1911, Julián established a dry goods store called La Estrella del Oriente (The Star of the Orient) and purchased real estate in downtown Mexico City. In August 1926, Julián Slim and Linda Helú married in Mexico City. They had six children, of whom Carlos was the youngest son. Carlos also ran track as a child Julian died in 1952.[6]
Slim studied engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. By the time he was 26 years old, his net worth was $40 million.[7] He married Soumaya Domit Gemayel, also a Lebanese-Mexican, in 1967. They had six children and were married for 32 years until Domit died of a kidney ailment in 1999. The youngest of their three daughters, Johanna, is married to Arturo Elías Ayub, a board member of some of Slim's companies.
Personal wealth
On August 4, 2007, The Wall Street Journal ran a cover story profiling Slim. The article said, "While the market value of his stake in publicly traded companies could decline at any time, at the moment he is probably wealthier than Bill Gates".[8] On March 29, 2007, Slim surpassed Warren Buffett as the world's second richest person with an estimated net worth of $53.1 billion compared to Buffet's $52.4 billion.[9] According to The Wall Street Journal, Slim credits part of his ability to "discover investment opportunities" early to the writings of his friend, futurist author Alvin Toffler.[8]
On August 8, 2007, Fortune reported that Slim had overtaken Gates as the world's richest man. Slim's estimated fortune soared to $59 billion, based on the value of his public holdings at the end of July. Gates' net worth was estimated to be at least $58 billion.[8][10]
On March 5, 2008, Forbes ranked Slim as the world's second-richest person, behind Warren Buffett and ahead of Bill Gates.[3] On March 11, 2009, Forbes ranked Slim as the world's third-richest person, behind Gates and Buffett and ahead of Lawrence Ellison.[3]
On March 10, 2010, Forbes once again reported that Slim had overtaken Gates as the world's richest man, with a net worth of $53.5 billion. Gates and Buffett now have a net worth of $53 billion and $47 billion respectively.[3] He was the first Mexican to top the list.[11] It was the first time in 16 years that the person on top of the list was not from the United States.[12] It was also the first time the person at the top of the list was from an "emerging economy."[13]
Achievements and directorships
Slim has been vice-president of the Mexican Stock Exchange and president of the Mexican Association of Brokerage Houses. He was the first president of the Latin-American Committee of the New York Stock Exchange Administration Council, and was in office from 1996 through 1998.
He was on the Board of Directors of the Altria Group (previously known as Philip Morris) until his resignation in April 2006. Slim was also on the Board of Directors of Alcatel. Slim currently sits on the Board of Directors for Philip Morris International. He was on the Board of Directors of SBC Communications until July 2004, when he quit to devote more time to the World Education & Development Fund, which is focused on infrastructure, health and education projects. In 1997, just before the company introduced its iMac line, Slim bought three percent of Apple Computer's stock, which has skyrocketed over the years.
He built the large Mexican financial-industrial conglomerate Grupo Carso which controls, among other companies, Sanborns (a prestigious food chain in Mexico), Mixup (music retail), Sears Mexico, Cigatam, Condumex and Grupo Hotelero Hostam and had indirect control over the CompUSA electronics retail chain.
On December 8, 2007, Grupo Carso announced that the remaining 103 CompUSA stores would be either liquidated or sold, bringing an end to the struggling company.[14] After 28 years he became the Honorary Lifetime Chairman of the business. He is also Chairman of Teléfonos de Mexico, América Móvil, and Grupo Financiero Inbursa.
Slim is said to have shown an interest in buying the Honda Formula One team.[15] Slim would overtake the owner of Force India, Vijay Mallya, to become the the second-tier United Soccer Leagues. [citation needed]
Telecom leadership
Slim gained prominence when he led a group of investors that included France Télécom and Southwestern Bell Corporation in buying Telmex and Telnor from the Mexican government in 1990 in a public tender during the presidency of Carlos Salinas. Slim was able to raise the money for the telecommunications companies by purchasing standby letters of credit which enabled him to obtain the guaranteed loans which provided the capital. Today, 90 percent of the telephone lines in Mexico are operated by Telmex.[16] The mobile company, Telcel, which Slim also controls, operates almost eighty percent of all the country's cellphones. These operations have financed Slim's foreign expansion. Over the past five years, his wireless carrier América Móvil has bought cellphone companies across Latin America, and is now the region's dominant company, with more than 100 million subscribers. Slim was once MCI Inc.'s largest shareholder, with 13% ownership. On April 11, 2005, The Wall Street Journal announced that he had sold his stake in MCI to Verizon Communications.
Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo
He leads Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo en America Latina SAB de CV (IDEAL – roughly translated as "Promoter of Development and Employment in Latin America"), a Mexico-based company primarily engaged in infrastructure development. IDEAL is active in the transportation, crude oil and gas, power, water, real estate and technology sectors. Within these sectors, the company performs as a concessionaire of highways, hydroelectric plants projects, electronic toll collection systems and ports. It is also engaged in the exploration, production, transport, refinement and distribution of crude oil and gas mainly through deep water offshore oil platforms . Additionally, the company is engaged in the construction and operation of water treatment plants and the investment and development of urban and rural properties, primarily in the commercial, health and education sectors. The company's main subsidiaries are Desarollo de America Latina SA de CV and Promotora del Desarollo de America Latina SA de CV.
Criticism
The Mexican magnate's growing fortune has caused a controversy because it has been amassed in a developing country where per capita income does not surpass $14,500 a year, and nearly 17% of the population lives in poverty.[17] Critics claim that Slim is a monopolist, pointing to Telmex's control of 90% of the Mexican landline telephone market. Slim's wealth is the equivalent of roughly 5% of Mexico's annual economic output.[18] Telmex, of which 49.1% is owned by Slim and his family, charges among the highest usage fees in the world, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.[19]
According to Professor Celso Garrido, an economist at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Slim's domination of Mexico's conglomerates prevents the growth of smaller companies, resulting in a shortage of paying jobs and forcing many Mexicans to seek better lives north of the Rio Grande.[20]
"When you live for others' opinions, you are dead. I don't want to live thinking about how I'll be remembered". Slim claims indifference about his position on Forbes list of the worlds richest people and says he has no interest in becoming the world's richest person. When asked to explain his sudden increase in wealth at a press conference soon after Forbes annual rankings were published, he reportedly said, "The stock market goes up ... and down", and noted that his fortune could quickly drop.[18]
Cultural businesses
In 2000, Slim, along with ex-broadcaster Jacobo Zabludowsky organized the Fundación del Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México A.C. (Mexico City Historic Downtown Foundation), with the objective to revitalizing and rescuing Mexico City's historic downtown to enable more people to live, work and find entertainment in this area. He has been Chairman of the Executive Committee for the Restoration of the Historic Center since 2001. Extensive work to rebuild the infrastructure and repair what was a wasteland prior to 2000 has been done since then, with splendid results even critics have to admire. Mr. Slim has invested more than 2 billion dollars in these ventures. Mr. Slim has also been active in revitalizing old franchises like Sears, Sanborn´s brothers pharmacies, and retail chains. He recently acquired a stake in Saks Fifth Avenue, and The New York Times newspaper chain.
The Carlos Slim Foundation sponsors the Museo Soumaya which has the most extensive Rodin and Dalí collection in Latin America and one of the largest in the world, as well as renowned religious artworks from colonial times. In 2010 he inaugurated the first phase of the Plaza Mariana project in the Basilica de Guadalupe to reorganize tolerated commerce in the atrium and adjacent space.
More recently (October 2010), he inaugurated his Latin version of the Rockefeller center where most of his ventures will now share a common Headquarters address, Plaza Carso.
Awards
Slim has been awarded the Entrepreneurial Merit Medal of Honor from Mexico's Chamber of Commerce. He is a "gold patron" of the American Academy of Achievement,[21] a Commander in the Belgian Order of Leopold II, CEO of the year in 2003 by Latin Trade magazine, and one year later CEO of the decade by the same magazine.
See also
References
- ^ www.sentidocomun.com.mx
- ^ http://www.thomaswhite.com/explore-the-world/global-players/carlos-slim.aspx
- ^ a b c d Forbes billionaire page on Carlos Slim. Forbes.com. Accessed April 2010.
- ^ BBC report on Slim as world's wealthiest man in 2010
- ^ Carlos Slim official webpage
- ^ Richest Men
- ^ "Profile: Carlos Slim". BBC News. March 10, 2010. Retrieved April 28, 2010.
- ^ a b c Luhnow, David (August 4, 2007). "The Secrets of the World's Richest Man". The Wall Street Journal. p. A1. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
- ^ Coster, Helen (April 11, 2007). "Carlos Slim Helu Now World's Second-Richest Man". Forbes. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
- ^ Mehta, Stephanie (August 6, 2007). "Carlos Slim, the richest man in the world". Fortune. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
- ^ "Mexican overtakes Bill Gates as world's wealthiest man". Bild. March 11, 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Rich list signals shift in fortunes". Al Jazeera. March 11, 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
- ^ "Year's richest man, first from emerging economy, bumps Gates". Deutsche Welle. March 11, 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
- ^ "End of the Line for CompUSA". sfgate.com. December 9, 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
- ^ "Carlos Slim Eyes Honda Purchase". speedtv.com. December 22, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
- ^ Thompson, Ginger (June 3, 2006). "Prodded by the Left, Mexico's Richest Man Talks Equity". New York Times.
- ^ "UN HDI table" (PDF). United Nations. 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
- ^ a b Coster, Helen (2007-04-11). "Carlos Slim Helu Now World's Second-Richest Man". Forbes. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Smith, Geri (2007-03-05). "Slim's Big Giveaway: As the government steps up its scrutiny, the billionaire is stepping up his philanthropy". BusinessWeek. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Porras, Andy (2007-07-13). "Mexico's wealthiest mogul spurs controversy". Hispanic Link. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "About the Academy: Academy Patrons". Academy of Achievement website. Academy of Achievement. 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Carlos Slim World Richest Man
External links
