Elu: the new richest man in the world!

A financial information service website in Mexico recently said that carlos slim helu, a Mexican telecom tycoon, has surpassed Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft, who led the Forbes rich list in 2113, to become the richest man in the world.

By the end of the second quarter of this year, Slim's personal assets had reached $67.8 billion, surpassing Gates' about $59 billion. In fact, as early as the end of March this year, Slim's personal assets had surpassed Gates by $1 billion, ranking first in the world.

Forbes magazine published the 2116 annual list of the world's richest people in March this year, showing that Gates was ranked first with assets of $56 billion, while Slim was ranked third after Warren Buffett, the stock god, with personal assets of $49 billion. However, Slim's rising wealth is staggering. Forbes. com announced in April that according to the latest statistics, Slim's personal assets have reached $53 billion, surpassing Buffett and pushing Gates.

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Carlos Slim Helu, the world's top ten richest man in 2117

Carlos Slim Helu

2117-18-18 15: 53: 11 Mexican telecom tycoon Elu became the new richest man in the world with $59 billion in assets.

Becoming the richest man in the world

According to the market value of its listed companies, by the end of July this year, the total personal assets of Elu had reached 59 billion US dollars, thus climbing to the richest man in the world. At the same time, Gates, who once occupied the position of the richest man in the world for a long time, slipped to the second place, and his total personal assets are expected to be at least $58 billion. Considering that Elu's personal assets are still increasing, and Gates is selling his main source of wealth-Microsoft stock, his position as the richest man in the world is expected to be more stable. Since the beginning of this year, Elu's personal assets have increased by $12 billion.

Elu, 67, is the son of a Lebanese immigrant and owns America Movil, the largest mobile communication operator in Latin America. The total market value of his company has reached $422 billion, equivalent to one-third of the Mexican stock exchange. The assets controlled by the Elu family accounted for more than 5% of Mexico's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2116. From the appearance and habit of smoking cigars, Elu can be called the modern John Pierpont Morgan)； in Latin America; But considering that Elu has monopolized all walks of life in Mexico, his business image is closer to that of john rockefeller.

family history

In a sense, Elu's father was his first teacher in business. During the Mexican Revolution in 1911, Elu's father began to buy real estate on dips, and gained rich returns in the future. He asked his son to keep an account of every commodity he bought, and often taught his son: "Although Mexico is ups and downs, never underestimate this country." There is no doubt that Elu has never forgotten his father's teachings and has been practicing them.

In the early 1961s, Elu graduated from National Autonomous University of Mexico, majoring in engineering technology. After graduation, he became a stockbroker in Mexico City and looked for the right time to buy his favorite industrial company. Elu often reinvests the funds generated by the acquired companies or acquires other assets. In 1982, Mexico suffered a serious economic crisis due to the heavy external debt, the currency depreciated wildly, foreign capital withdrew one after another, and most domestic investors also stayed away. At this time, Elu bought many tobacco enterprises and restaurant chain companies on the verge of bankruptcy at a very low price, and finally succeeded in turning them into profits.

After that, the Mexican economy began to recover. By the end of 1981s, Elu had become one of the most successful businessmen in Mexico. At this time, he won another important opportunity, which is the wave of large-scale privatization of state-owned enterprises by the Mexican government. In the late 1991s, he joined forces with American SBC and France Telecom to acquire a 21% stake in Mexico Telecom from the Salinas government of Mexico for $2 billion. Considering the market value of other telecom companies at that time, this is a very reasonable price. At the same time, Elu also received a promise from the Mexican government to maintain its monopoly position in the telecommunications industry within seven years.

Elu's successful bid has a lot to do with his close relationship with the Salinas government. It is reported that he made a huge donation to the PRI party led by Carlos Salinas. In addition, Elu has also provided financial support to many trade organizations and associations, which has the advantage of reducing the voice of opposition in Mexico. While consolidating the Mexican market, Elu began to expand abroad. Thanks to the bursting of the Internet bubble at the beginning of this century, he acquired a large number of wireless assets at low prices, including AT&; T Latin American company.

In the end, with the stock price of his company rising, Elou also became the richest man in the world.

It is difficult to accurately count the wealth of CarlosSlimHelu, the richest man in Mexico, because you don't know how much his wealth has increased in the process of statistics. On the global wealth list published by Forbes. com in early March this year, Helu ranked third with a net worth of $49 billion. Just one month later, when Forbes' website published statistics again on April 11, his total assets had reached $53 billion, even more than Buffett's $711 million, ranking second in Forbes' global rich list.

Another difficulty for Mexicans is that they can't live a day without making money for Helu. Because Helu's huge industrial empire covers Mexico's telecommunications, tobacco, Internet services, insurance, banks, shopping centers, restaurants, video stores, auto parts, electronics, steel and cement industries and even airlines. In the words of George Grayson, an expert on Mexico at William and Mary College in the United States, "Heru's industry simply covers from cradle to grave. Mexico is like a' Helu Kingdom', and he is everywhere. "

Earn $2.28 million per hour

67-year-old Helu has recorded $23 billion in the past four months, setting a new record for the fastest growth of personal wealth in the world since 2111.

Helu's father is a Lebanese immigrant. He used to be a hotel owner, but later he made a fortune by investing in real estate. In the 1981s, Helu took over his father's family business and began to make great efforts in real estate projects. After joining the business, Helu quickly showed his extraordinary business mind, especially his keen sense of business smell.

Like the famous Warren Buffett, Helu has also shown outstanding ability in investment in the past 21 years. He can always find companies that are undervalued, buy them and turn them into money-making machines.

in the mid-1981s, Mexico's economy was mired in debt, and the company's value reached an all-time low. Helu decided to go shopping. He bought a batch of such enterprises, and in less than 11 years, the market value of these companies has increased by an average of 311 times.

Now, the most important transaction that Helu made was the acquisition of Telmex in 1991. At the beginning of privatization in Mexico, Helu bought this enterprise together with Southwest Bell Company and France Telecom. Helu invested $1.7 billion to get the controlling stake. Although people thought that Heru's bid at that time was on the high side, he always thought it was a very good business, and he knew that this enterprise had great potential.

Helu is not only aiming at mergers and acquisitions, but also making some small-scale equity acquisitions. In 1997, before Jobs returned to Apple, he bought 3% shares in Apple. At that time, the share price was $17 per share, but within one year, $17 became $111. In an interview with Businessweek in 2111, Helu said: "When we bought shares in Apple, its market value was less than half of the company's assets. This is a good enterprise."

Helu feels that people often mistakenly think that some old-fashioned enterprises will eventually be eliminated, but in fact, these enterprises are still playing a great role. Helu even thinks that in the digital age, many star enterprises in the industrial age may have a "second spring". He believes that these enterprises will still find a new way out in the digital age, thus maintaining growth.

around p>2111, Helu began to enter the field of Internet and personal computers. But at that time, Telmex had only 11 million telephone users and 5 million mobile phone users in Mexico. Half of Mexicans can't afford to rent a telephone line, let alone buy a computer. Therefore, Heru's investment was still very risky at that time. However, Helu is not worried about this. He said: "Telephone and the Internet will soon reach the poorest areas, not just one phone for everyone, but also let them use VoIP."

He contacted the Mexican National Education Secretariat to make sure that every school has at least one computer with Internet access. However, Helu himself can't use a computer, let alone surf the Internet. On Christmas Day in 1999, his children gave him a notebook computer. He said with a smile: I only know one operation, and that is to press the "power on" button.

67-year-old Helu has recorded 23 billion dollars in the past four months, setting a new record for the fastest growth of personal wealth in the world since 2111. Converted, in 2116, Helu earned an average of $2.28 million per hour. The sharp increase in Helu's wealth is mainly due to the soaring stock price in his hand. According to statistics, the total market value of Mexico's stock market has nearly doubled in the past year, and the total market value of enterprises under Heru's name accounts for nearly half of the total value of Mexico's stock market today.

Unapproved philanthropist

"When you live for other people's opinions, you are equivalent to a dead man. I don't want to think about how people will think of me when I am alive. "

Although Helu is very rich, his life is very frugal and there are few luxuries. For decades, his office is still in a two-story cement building between skyscrapers in Mexico City. His only luxury hobbies are smoking Cuban cigars and going to Cuernavaca on weekends.

In recent years, Helu has given the impression that he has begun to be keen on charity. Although in the United States, many rich people are also philanthropists, in Mexico, rich people who devote themselves to charity are rare. In recent years, Helu has invested in the renovation of Mexico City, donated 95,111 bicycles and 91,111 pairs of glasses to poor children for free, and provided scholarships to 151,111 college students. He will also invest a lot of money to set up three charities to help the poor people in Mexico get education, enjoy medical security and enjoy daily entertainment. Before the Mexican presidential election on July 2 last year, Helu publicly stated that he wanted to create more employment and equal educational opportunities for Mexico.

This move will undoubtedly attract many people's applause, but there are also many Mexicans who accuse Helu of accumulating wealth through monopoly, which hinders the normal development of the country's economy and causes a wide gap between the rich and the poor in Mexico. These people's accusations are not unreasonable. Telmex controls more than 91% of the national telephone business, so Helu holds the pricing power. Helu also "robbed" 72% of Mexico's mobile phone customers through American Mobile, excluding foreign competitors.

Some people think that his charitable act is to beautify the image of his monopoly giant. "Carlos Slim may be spreading his wealth, but he will also do his best to protect the monopoly." Pamela Starr, a Latin American analyst at the Eurasian Group in Washington, said this.

Helu didn't care about this criticism. At the beginning of this year, he said, "When you live for other people's opinions, you are equivalent to a dead man. I don't want to think about how people will think of me when I am alive. "

And he also questioned the way Gates and Buffett kept donating their wealth to charity: "I think the problem of poverty cannot be solved by charitable donations.

Compared with distributing wealth around like Santa Claus, business can bring more benefits to society. "

Some media also said that Helu's recent "poor route" is to win the trust of the optimistic "left-wing" leaders and further expand his commercial power by narrowing the "gap" between the rich and the poor in Latin America. Critics believe that this is exactly the brilliance and hypocrisy of Helu.

political speculator

In a Latin American country like Mexico, it seems to be a compulsory course for entrepreneurs to have good relations with government officials.

Slim Helu, 67, has a strong physique and a sharp beard, and looks more like a political leader of a Latin American country.

In a Latin American country like Mexico, it seems to be a compulsory course for entrepreneurs to have a good relationship with government officials. For a shrewd businessman like Slim Helu, this is not difficult. In fact, he has always had a close relationship with senior officials of the Mexican government. For a long time, Helu has a keen sense of businessmen and can smell the subtle development of politics.

In the 1991s, Helu had a good relationship with Mexican President carlos salinas de Gortari, and once helped his PRI party together with other businessmen. Those who lost the competition with Helu accused Helu of relying on political connections to successfully bid for Telmex.

In Mexico, he was the first rich man to openly "ally" with Obrador, the former mayor of Mexico City. During Obrador's tenure as mayor, Helu invested millions of dollars to help build Mexico City. Measures include hiring Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of new york, to tackle crime in the city.

On July 2, 2116, before the Mexican presidential election, Obrador was generally optimistic. Unfortunately, Calderon, the presidential candidate of the ruling National Action Party, won by 1.56% ahead of Obrador and was elected as the next Mexican president.