Imagine if the grocery store, the cell phone provider, and biggest national construction outfit were all owned by the same company—you could buy just about anything and never have to enrich any competitors. First, what do people mean when they say he's so rich? Slim obviously doesn't have all those billions sitting in a vault like Scrooge McDuck.

It's a measure of his total holdings in various companies as well as his "real" assets. That said, Slim has a sizeable piece of many companies that he owns. Slim has a hand in literally hundreds of other companies, largely through Grupo Carso.

How Did Carlos Slim Make His Fortune?

Grupo Carso has stakes in enterprises as diverse as Elementia, one of the largest cement companies in Mexico, a hand in retail via Searsenergy and construction via CICSA and automotive via Grupo Condumex. Top 4 Frugal Billionaires. Perhaps the biggest piece of Slim's wealth comes from telecommunications. Carlos Slim was at the helm of Grupo Carso, and as such took over at Telmex.

How did Carlos Slim Helú get rich? | ydelery.web.fc2.com

Now the company is poised to sell assets to bring its market share below 50 percent, in the wake of new anti-monopoly regulations in Mexico. For related reading, see: Piggyback the Smart Money. Slim's telecoms empire reaches every country in Latin America except Venezuela and Bolivia.

Yet it wasn't necessarily a deep knowledge of technology or telecommunications that made the company what it is today. Slim has often said that his strategy is to reinvest the profits into the business itself, and fuel growth. Telmex, for example, invested billions over several years to install an updated fiber network in the s, and that left the company in a position offer high-speed internet service.

The pattern is typical of Slim's business deals over the course of his life — buy an asset, reinvest, and sell at a profit. Telecommunications is only the most visible piece of that strategy. Slim started out as a stockbroker, with the founding of Grupo Financiero Inbursa in One of his biggest opportunities — even beyond the privatization of Telmex — was the peso crisis in the early s, coupled with a steep decline in oil prices.

Capital was fleeing the country, and Slim bought a number of companies at depressed valuations. Some examples are Cigatam, the country's second-largest cigarette maker, Reynolds Aluminum, General Tire and the Sanborns chain of stores.

Multiply transactions like that over the course of Slim's life and it's not hard to see how he got where he is. Slim's strategy has been to buy up sometimes troubled companies and try to turn them around. The advantage of that model is that it doesn't necessarily require a specific knowledge of any given sector — just a keen sense of what is undervalued and what isn't.

In addition, the conglomerate structure allows him to have stakes in so many industries his wealth is nearly as recession-proof as it is possible to be. His stocks might lose value in a general market downturn that affects the whole economy, but a problem in the telecommunications industry won't hurt his numbers much, because some other sector will likely be doing affiliates for binary options in mt4 platform well.

Slim is also less interested in the fine details of the businesses he buys. Any transaction is just that — the goal is to sell his stake at a canada rrsp invest stockmarket later. That might be a factor in why Slim was under the radar for most Americans for decades.

Aside from Americans' relative ignorance of the situation in Mexico, Slim isn't flamboyant and he didn't launch a transformative product. In that sense he is the anti-Steve Jobs, who would wax poetic about the transformational potential how does carlos slim make money Apple devices. Slim rarely speaks to the press at all, and only recently raised his public profile. What Bill Gross, Steve Jobs and Steve Wynn Share.

That doesn't address the down sides of individuals owning so much wealth. Slim's net worth is so large it rivals the gross domestic products of some small nations. That's bought him a lot of political influence. It's no accident that Mexico has relatively weak anti-monopoly laws. Garcia has written that one problem is that regulations that affect Slim-owned properties are often enforced lightly, if at all.

It's hard to imagine the U. Justice department, for instance, tolerating the kind of control over the telecoms industry that Slim built. A History of U. Another issue is monopolistic practices.

One of the assets Slim picked up with Telmex was one of the largest Mexican makers of copper wire. He then stopped Telmex from buying wire from the company's competitor, which forced that competitor to sell to an American concern.

When the Mexican government attempted to increase competition in the phone business, it didn't account for the fact that new companies had to pay Telmex an interconnection fee.

Telmex errors and omissions insurance for stock brokers set such fees very high, making it tougher for any other provider to undercut prices, especially for long distance calls.

Eventually the practice stopped, after much negotiation between the government, Slim and the upstarts. How Monopoly Antitrust Laws Affect Consumers. Even when anti-monopoly laws force Slim's companies to sell assets, there's a sense that it might just be an end-run around the law.

For example, in January a Mexican court ordered Telmex to stop selling a division that holds fiber optic lines and telephone poles. Once the division was no longer part of Telmex, it's possible that the company wouldn't fall under certain antitrust rules anymore, giving Slim a freer hand. Critics have noted that with Slim's companies owning such large market shares, and driving out competitors, the Mexican economy has suffered. A lack of an even playing field means that new entrants have a tougher time mounting a challenge to an incumbent player.

Increasing Regulatory Burdens Depressing America Movil's Growth. In that sense Slim's fortune is more like that of the old Rockefeller family than Bill Gates. Instead of building an empire on a few great innovations in a particular field, he did so through acquisitions and building a nearly unassailable market share.

From Oil Baron to Billionaire. Dictionary Term Of The Day. A measure of what it costs an investment company to operate a mutual fund.

Carlos Slim Helu is Mexico's wealthiest man - Business Insider

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Sophisticated content for financial advisors around investment strategies, industry trends, and advisor education. How Carlos Slim Built His Fortune By Jesse Emspak October 31, — 6: A Wide Reach Slim has a hand in literally hundreds of other companies, largely through Grupo Carso.

A Buying Opportunity Slim started out as a stockbroker, with the founding of Grupo Financiero Inbursa in Turnaround Specialist Slim's strategy has been to buy up sometimes troubled companies and try to turn them around. An Understated Billionaire That might be a factor in why Slim was under the radar for most Americans for decades. Cornering the Market Another issue is monopolistic practices. The Bottom Line In that sense Slim's fortune is more like that of the old Rockefeller family than Bill Gates.

A look at his road to success. What do you do with your money when you're one of the world's wealthiest individuals? If you're Carlos Slim, you give a lot away. Find out how the once-richest man in the world, Carlos Slim, invests his money to ensure that he doesn't lose his billionaire status.

A monopoly has dominated the Mexican telecom market for decades, but new regulations are changing that.

Where will Carlos Slim's competition come from? Most people in the know have heard of Carlos Slim and his massive fortune. But what about Mexico's other richest people? As Latin American countries strive for technological innovation, the telecommunications industry takes notice. Who are the five richest people in the world and how did they manage that feat? Here are some of the biggest market pundits' latest calls and how you can profit from them.

What kind of education does it take to become a billionaire? We take a look at the formal and informal education of the world's five richest people. Monopoly, as a theoretical economic construct, prevails when barriers to entry exist because one firm can operate at a lower Explore the telecommunications industry in regard to worldwide growth, and learn what percentage of the global economy the Discover the effects of an economic downturn on cyclical stocks.

These stocks are highly leveraged to the business cycle Learn the primary stock market indicators for the Mexican stock market and the leading economic indicators analysts use to Learn the difference between a developed economy and an emerging market economy, and understand why Mexico is an emerging No thanks, I prefer not making money.

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