Richest man

Chapter 40 The Americas: Carlos Salim Helu (1)
——Carlos Salim Helu: The American nightmare of multinational giants Mexico is the country with the most rich people in Latin America. Among the top ten richest people in Latin America in 2004, five people came from this country, and among these names Among them, the most dazzling one is undoubtedly Carlos Salim Helu. The reputation of this Mexican has already surpassed his motherland. In almost all American countries, people will often hear his name mentioned in the media.

The Mexican Telephone Company he founded is one of the largest companies in the country. The American Mobile Phone Company he controls has 4000 million users and is the most important mobile phone company in Latin America and the seventh largest mobile phone company in the world.In addition, in this industry, he also controls some mobile phone companies in Brazil, and has considerable shares in mobile phone companies in countries such as Peru... Someone joked that the whole of America is talking through him.In addition, he also purchased a large number of Internet companies and electronic equipment manufacturers, and even cooperated with Bill Gates to open a Spanish-language website, trying to "find his own suitable position" (Carlos) in the field of new technologies.

The near-monopoly operation brought great wealth and glory to Salem in 2005.In the latest "Forbes" global rich list, Carlos Salim Helu ranked fourth with assets of 238 billion US dollars, becoming the richest man in Latin America.

Lebanon to Mexico
Wealth is gifted, and Lebanon is such a country that is endowed with wealth. Carlos Salim Helu, who was born in Mexico City on January 19, [-], is of Lebanese blood. His grandfather was a Lebanese immigrant in the [-]th century, and he is the third generation of the family.

His father, Julian Salim, like Carlos, has the obvious imprint of a Lebanese businessman - shrewd, hardworking and full of wealth wisdom.It is these business talents possessed by him that laid the foundation for Carlos's future development and knocked on the door to wealth.

In the early 20th century, the young Julian Salim opened his first shop near the National Palace in Mexico City. In order to remember their hometown and share his pride in the Middle East with people, Julian Salim put His shop is called Eastern Star.Because of its superior geographical location, Eastern Star's business is very good, and it has gradually become a relatively well-known local firm, accumulating the first fortune for the Salim family.

The Mexican presidential election in 1910 triggered a bourgeois revolution. This revolution was a deeper anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggle after the Mexican War of Independence and the Revolutionary Movement, and the land revolution was the main direction of change.It was in such an environment that Julian, who was good at buying low-priced products, bought a lot of real estate in the city at a very cheap price, especially the old buildings left over from the Spanish colonial period.Of course, Julian is not a collector of these antique old houses - what really attracts him is not the old buildings themselves, but the land they own.Facts have proved that his choice is not wrong. The revolution has promoted the progress of social democracy and economic prosperity in Mexico with its huge transformative power, and gradually bid farewell to turmoil and poverty in this declining country.In addition, this revolution finally ended in the victory of the bourgeoisie, and the country confirmed the property rights of all the land, which also enabled the rapid development of Mexico's national economy.In the years following the storm, Julian Salem owned a large estate in Mexico City.

In addition to buying land, Julian Salem's business was also successful. When Carlos was [-] years old, Julian asked him to help in his own shop, and he began to cultivate Carlos' business sense from a young age. It is said that At the age of [-], Carlos' Lebanese business acumen began to emerge.However, while studying at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Carlos did not choose a business-related subject, but studied mechanics-if he followed his choice, he would become an engineer. In [-], Carlos graduated from university. At first, he cherished his talent in mathematics very much, and first taught some public or private institutions, including international institutions such as the Economic Council of Latin America.But it didn't take long before he decided to inherit the family business and started to do business, and the Salem family's business became brilliant.

He is a better shopper than his father

There are always amazing coincidences in history. Like his father, the timing of Carlos Salem Helu's fortune also stemmed from a large-scale turmoil.

In 1979, a revolution broke out in Iran. Afterwards, Iran and Iraq went to war. Oil production dropped sharply, and the price of international oil market rose sharply. The price of a barrel of oil rose from 14 US dollars to 35 US dollars. The second oil crisis officially broke out.But in 1982, with the resolution of the oil crisis, the price of oil in the international market suddenly dropped, and Mexico, which has more than [-] billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, is the largest oil producer and exporter in Latin America, and the oil industry plays an important role in Mexico's national economy. occupies an important position.The sudden drop in oil prices has directly led to a large amount of public debt in Mexico, which has almost collapsed the entire country's economy.The heavy foreign debt repayment burden, the exacerbation of capital flight from the country have dried up investment funds, and various economic and social problems induced by business closures and increased unemployment have forced the government to carry out a series of emergency and structural economic adjustments and reforms.But such a crisis brings opportunities to those who have an unusual sense of wealth, so the era of Carlos has arrived.

Just like his father bought real estate because of a revolution that year, the sudden economic turmoil touched Carlos's nerves to buy "bargains", and he also made the most of the talent he inherited from his father , and more daring and unconventional than his father.

Carlos Salim first founded the Carso Group in Mexico City, laying the foundation for the most important industrial complex in Latin America today.Then, he embarked on a frenzied bargain hunting.In just a few years, Mexico's most important tobacco company, a heavily indebted auto parts factory, a popular restaurant chain, and even a gift company have all become his acquisition targets and have been installed in Calso group.

When someone asked him about the criteria and reasons for his purchases, his answer was beyond everyone's expectations. He said, "Because they are cheap!" As if his business thinking was no different from that of many housewives who shop in supermarkets.However, even with the acquisition of so many companies, Carlos and his companies have been very low-key and mysterious throughout the [-]s, rarely appearing in public.In addition, with the continuous growth of wealth, Carlos Salim also gained many opportunities to contact with the top leaders of the Mexican government and social elites, and established good contacts, which paved the way for Carlos to enter the telecommunications industry in the next era. The foundations of the industry were laid.

After a series of mergers and acquisitions, Carlos Salim completed the structure of Carso and carried out a successful reorganization.The crisis will always pass. Mexico joined the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in 1986, and started the transformation from an inward-looking development model to an outward-looking development model. The economy began to recover gradually and maintained a low-speed growth. The country is looking for investment opportunities, and the already well-established Carso Group has naturally become a good partner.By the early 90s, Carso Group had become the most famous industrial complex in Mexico at that time.

From the 10s to the [-]s, the available statistics show that through nearly [-] years of acquisitions and development, Carlos Salem has approximately US$[-] billion in assets.

The multinational giants never beat him in the Americas

Carlos Salem's best era should be the 90s.

In the early [-]s, President Carlos Salinas came to power. He advocated the privatization of Mexican state-owned enterprises, which directly prompted the sale of a large number of large Mexican state-owned enterprises.

The good relationship with the government has created conditions for Carlos Salem to benefit from this privatization process.Carlos Salim's Carso Group bought the state-owned Mexican Telephone Company for $[-] million.This price is simply unbelievable. You must know that before the sale, this is an old company that has already monopolized the fixed-line telephone market in Mexico. This alone is an inestimable potential value.What is even more unimaginable is that after Carlos Salem completed this transaction, the Mexicans found that although the company was privatized, the telephone bill standard of the Mexican Telephone Company began to increase sharply, but the service quality did not improve at all.

No one knows the secret.The acquisition gave Carlos Salinas' political opponents and other rivals in Mexico an excuse to jointly launch an investigation into the acquisition.Many say that Telemex, like any other company, is a product of corruption.Still, Carlos Salem persevered despite surveys and protests from users.

Acquisition is the best way for Carlos Salem to expand his territory, but in the 90s, Carlos Salem jumped out of the previous acquisition standard of buying what was cheap, and he basically locked the target of acquisitions in the telecommunications of the entire Latin America and high-tech industries.

In the mid-90s, Carso Group bought some of the company's shares at a lower price when Apple Computer was in its trough. A year later, Apple's product iMac drove the company's stock up to $[-] per share. The group has benefited a lot from it.In addition, he also acquired Bell Telephone Company of Canada and SBC Communications Company of the United States at a price of [-] billion U.S. dollars, becoming one of the largest telecommunications companies in Canada.

(End of this chapter)