The World’s Richest Man
Carlos Slim beats out Bill Gates for the title of World’s Richest Man
Change is inevitable. Every day we see new structures being built and new technology being created. This has allowed developing countries to become new contenders in the fast paced business world. For the past 16 years, the world’s richest man has been an American, and for 15 out of the 16 years Bill Gates held the title. This year’s richest man in the world was the first non-American in 16 years, and the first ever Mexican. He has a net worth estimated at $53.5 billion, 500 million more than Bill Gates, who now sits in 2nd place. This year’s richest man is Carlos Slim.
Slim hails from Mexico City, Mexico. He was born on January 28, 1940 into a Lebanese immigrant family, who arrived in Mexico in 1902. Slim’s parents were the first people to bring an Arabic printing press to Mexico. His parents founded the first one of the first magazines for the Lebanese community. Slim was one of the few privileged children to be born into a somewhat wealthy family, this gave Slim the idea to create a company to help people get out of poverty.
At the young age of 13, Slim’s father passed away, leaving him to take care of his family. This lead Slim to get a degree at l’Università Nacional Autonoma de Mexíco in the field of engineering. With his education complete, he was able to take some of his father’s money and invest it. At the age of 26, Slim’s net worth was $40 million.
In 1982, Mexico was in financial trouble, having foreign investors bailing out Mexico’s troubled economy. Slim invested his money to try and get Mexico out of debt. Slim created many different businesses ranging from candy and baked goods to automobile tires department stores and insurance and banking companies, which all fell under the industrial empire called Grupo Carso. In 1990, he invested into a company called Telmex. Telmex was formerly a state owned telephone company, but was having financial problems. Before Slim, Telmex only had 25,000 customers in a nation of 90 million.
Slim created the “Gillette Plan,” a plan to sell mobile phone handsets at a loss. This plan allowed people who were tight on cash to use as much or as little phone services as they needed, without paying a monthly bill. This was a huge success in Mexico, the company under Slim started with 25,000 customers and today has approximately 50 million. In 2007, this company, now called America Movil, became the largest cell phone company in Latin America.
This year alone, Slim’s wealth increased by $18.2 billion in 12 months, and he decided to let his company rest in the hands of his family. Slim has decided to retire, but this has not stopped him from helping change the living standards in Latin America. The first step towards change was creating foundations that are providing educational opportunities and health services to the new generation.
Slim believes that they key to a successful business is the old and new generations combined. In a 2007 interview he said, “We learn from each other, but it’s interesting, because in some areas, the old men, the fathers talk, and the others, the “children” talk — they are 30, 35, and 40. Many are in charge of the business, and we learn off each other. It doesn’t matter the generation. It’s clear, the energy of the young people and of the old, and we compromise. They are very clear about the social responsibilities of the business community.” For Slim, relying on this generation as well as the generation of the past is the key to becoming a successful businessman.
