Why Carlos Slim Is The Richest Man In The World

Read on to see how the worlds richest man has come to be.

Carlos Slim is currently the world’s richest man. Carlos has been an entrepreneur since the age of 12, when he first decided to purchase shares in a Mexican bank. Now Carlos Slim is worth billions upon billions ($75.5 Billion to be exact).

Carlos Slim – The World’s Richest Man

Carlos Slim Helu’s father, Julian, was a Lebanese immigrant to Mexico where he operated a dry goods store and invested in commercial real estate in Mexico City, which made him wealthy.

Julian seemed to have been aware that Carlos was going to be good at commerce and would educate him on business dealings. Although he was only 12 years old when his father died, Carlos inherited his fathers business talents, whose work ethic and business acumen was extraordinary.

Carlos first worked at the family company before studying civil engineering and eventually becoming a stock broker in his own brokerage firm. He invested wisely in a variety of businesses so that by the time he was 26 he was already worth forty million dollars. However, Carlos never wanted to be a stock trader, preferring to be a good businessman. Carlos Slim’s mastery of numbers is legendary. In the 1960s, his studies of linear programming gave him a formidable edge in the business world. Using this amazing talent, In 1981, Carlos did his homework and decided to buy into the second largest tobacco company in Mexico, Cigatam, who made Marlboro cigarettes. With the money he made, he was able to begin buying companies.

As oil prices declined in 1982, the Mexican economy started to go downhill . That’s when Carlos wisely invested the Cigatam profits in the Mexican divisions of American businesses such as Reynolds Aluminum and Hershey Corporation, as well as Mexican financial services. Basically, Carlos Slim earned his fortune and his power by putting monopolies together, especially in communications. He is a ruthless businessman, buying companies cheaply, organizing them and quickly driving competition out of business. Gathering many businesses with interests in construction, mining, printing, tobacco, food, and retail, he formed a conglomerate.

In the late Eighties Carlos Slim added other companies that traded in copper, aluminum and chemicals, after which he sold shares in his conglomerate, Grupo Carso, as a public company. He also bought Telmex, the telecommunications company. Along with Telcel, his mobile phone company, they handle most of Mexico’s phone and mobile lines.

In the Nineties, after buying the Mexican division of Sears Roebuck, Carlos began expanding his business empire out of Latin America by setting up Telmex USA and by joining Microsoft to begin a portal called ProdigyMSN.

One of the few business mistakes Carlos made was buying a stake in CompUSA in 1999 for $800 million. Unfortunately, the sales of personal computers were slowing down at the time because they were more and more obsolete as new technology became available. Carlos tried everything to keep them afloat, including changing CEO’s and other various strategies, but eventually the chain closed more than half its stores and sold the rest.

Carlos says that he has lost count of the “more than two hundred companies” he now controls. If he dines out in a restaurant, chances are that he owns it. Believe it or not, he does not even use a computer himself, preferring the old skool way, “a pen and paper!”

Carlos Slim has a mansion in Mexico City where he has hosted American presidents and famous Mexican novelists. He claims to live a rather rustic life, not traveling much and enjoying baseball as he roots for the New York Yankees. Rather, he enjoys staying at home and reading about the military strategies of Genghis Khan.

Although Carlos Slim is the largest private employer in Mexico and the world’s richest man, he is thrifty and not at all flamboyant as many businessmen of his social status tend to become. Described by his business associates and competitors as being very aggressive, he is a power to be reckoned with. That power extends to the Mexican legislature. His lawyers have successfully blocked any legislation that threatens his companies.

Carlos Slim’s 10 Keys To Business Success

1. Have a simple organizational structure
2. Maintain austerity
3. Focus on growth
4. Minimize non-productive things
5. Work together
6. Reinvest profits
7. Be charitable
8. Keep optimistic
9. Work hard
10. Create wealth

In one of his latest newspaper interviews, Mr. Slim states that he believes the retirement age should be expanded to 70 years old since originally the retirement age was based more on physical work but now it should be based on services provided rather than hard physical labor.

Having had a heart attack in the late Nineties, Carlos has slowed things down, allowing his six children and their spouses to take more responsibility, although he remains “Honorary Lifetime Chairman” of his businesses.

Focusing now on Mexican and Latin American education, health and employment, Carlos is Chairman of five Boards involving this work.

Carlos Slim’s Net Worth is now $75.5 billion dollars, making him the world’s richest man.

Carlos Slim Quotes

“All times are good time for those who know how to work and have the tools to do so.” – Carlos Slim

“Do not allow negative feelings and emotions to control your mind. Emotional harm does not come from others; it is conceived and developed within ourselves.” – Carlos Slim

“Live the present intensely and fully, do not let the past be a burden, and let the future be an incentive. Each person forges his or her own destiny.” – Carlos Slim

“When there is a crisis, that’s when some are interested in getting out and that’s when we are interested in getting in.” – Carlos Slim

“When we decide to do something, we do it quickly.” – Carlos Slim

“I think one of the big errors people are making right now is thinking that old-style businesses will be obsolete, when actually they will be an important part of this new civilization. Some retail groups are introducing e-commerce and think that the “bricks” are no longer useful. But they will continue to be important.” – Carlos Slim

“When you live for others’ opinions, you are dead. I don’t want to live thinking about how I’ll be remembered.” – Carlos Slim

Article By Joel Brown | Addicted2Success.com