Mexico Connect
Forums > General > General Forum
 

RickS

Mar 11, 2010, 3:28 PM

Post #1 of 20 (3113 views)

Shortcut

Forbe's World's Richest Person is.....

 Can't Post | Private Reply
.... Carlos Slim!!!

According to the Associated Press today, Carlos Slim eclipsed Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to become the world's richest man. At $53.5 Billion he nudged out Gates at $53B and Buffett at $47B. This is the first time since 1994 that a non-US person has earned the top spot. Gates' and Buffett's philanthropic donations played a role in their decline to the numbers 2 & 3 spots, according to a Forbes spokeswoman.

Arturo Elias Ayub, an executive in Slim's Telmex company, who frequently acts as his spokesman and who is also the billionaire's son-in-law, said, "The reaction is one of satisfaction, that this confidence in Mexico exists and this confidence in our group's companies."

mexliving

Mar 11, 2010, 6:46 PM

Post #2 of 20 (3071 views)

Shortcut

Re: [RickS] Forbe's World's Richest Person is.....

 Can't Post | Private Reply
i wish i was his son in-law....... an incredible fortune.... and the fact is that what ever stocks he owns in his mexican/latin american companies are valued less then a u.s. based stock.. so against all odds he has become the wealthiest in the world.

i like to know what he pays his directors/executives

cristalhombre


Mar 11, 2010, 10:08 PM

Post #3 of 20 (3035 views)

Shortcut

Re: [mexliving] Forbe's World's Richest Person is.....

 Can't Post | Private Reply
No doubt Carlos is a sharp guy.

Mexliving I'm not sure what you mean by "against all odds, he's the wealthiest dude on the planet"

YOUR NAME would be on the Forbes list too "if" you were an 'oligopolist' in a second world country - where spiffs + influence all the way to the top of the political food chain "protects" your markets + products from competition - allowing obscene profits.

When you have those circumstances - it's hard NOT to make HUGE piles of $$$$$$ + a foto-op with Forbe's Big Bucks list.

IMO - the top end of the Mexican economy - includes three 'cartels' (not in order)...... petroleum, drugs, + Telmex.

Yup! Carlos is a sharp dude! In Mexico you can still 'operate' with that behavior. PLUS...................excessive generosity with politicians keeps the word "antitrust" out of the Mexican lexicon.

There are NO odds..............the game is rigged in his favor. It's easy to get rich that way - just like the Rockefeller's did with Standard Oil in the last century.





"NOT ALL WHO WANDER ARE LOST...."

(This post was edited by cristalhombre on Mar 11, 2010, 10:11 PM)

gpkgto

Mar 12, 2010, 7:44 AM

Post #4 of 20 (3002 views)

Shortcut

Re: [cristalhombre] Forbe's World's Richest Person is.....

 Can't Post | Private Reply
Microsoft is also a monopoly. Only Buffet has made his money with brains and luck.

gpkgto

Mar 12, 2010, 7:46 AM

Post #5 of 20 (3001 views)

Shortcut

Re: [RickS] Forbe's World's Richest Person is.....

 Can't Post | Private Reply
A news article a year or so ago said that every 7th peso spent in Mexico goes to Carlos Slim (via Telmex, Telcel, Sanborns, Mixup, Sears, Inbursa, etc etc.)

Reefhound


Mar 12, 2010, 8:32 AM

Post #6 of 20 (2992 views)

Shortcut

Re: [gpkgto] Forbe's World's Richest Person is.....

 Can't Post | Private Reply
In Reply To
Microsoft is also a monopoly. Only Buffet has made his money with brains and luck.

Tell that to all the Mac users.

Microsoft is only dominant because the others cannot compete. There are no government regulations protecting their industry. IBM tried and failed, Sun tried and failed, any number of two bit Unix/Linux players tried and failed, although Apple has maintained it's niche.

cristalhombre


Mar 12, 2010, 9:04 AM

Post #7 of 20 (2983 views)

Shortcut

Re: [gpkgto] Forbe's World's Richest Person is.....

 Can't Post | Private Reply
Agreed on Microsoft.

The big difference in an oligopoly vs. monopoly - is that the "state" protects you against competition. A monopoly can fall or be displaced such is the story with AOL, General Motors, etc

Not certain of your every "7th peso goes to Senor Slim???" But I did read somewhere that a telecom charge in Mexico is on the order of 14 - 20% higher than a comparable plan in the US.......... that's HUGE when you have 30 - 50 million subscribers with little or no choices.

Quik math tells me that the Telmex/Telcel cartel picks the pockets of subscribers for an estimated $$$ 60 - 100 million USD in clear profits EA MONTH - as the state looks the other way.

It's legal - in Mexico............. and the politicians that allow it are well cared for.

I celebrate Carlos for his ability to continue this scam (some fancy footwork + $$$ compensation for his friends in government)............... but NOT as an entrepreneur. I'd give those accolades to the likes of Craig McCaw - the guy who basically created what is now the AT+T global cellular network. Now that guy is a genius! I've met him and his mind is spinning with tech ideas 24/7/365. He also helped to broker the Apple i-phone - ATT marriage. Brilliant move!

That's the list Forbes should focus on............ profile the folks that are going to lead this depressed global economy to a new paradigm via innovation.......and if they happen to make a jillion bucks doing it, GREAT!!!





"NOT ALL WHO WANDER ARE LOST...."

mexliving

Mar 13, 2010, 12:24 AM

Post #8 of 20 (2926 views)

Shortcut

Re: [cristalhombre] Forbe's World's Richest Person is.....

 Can't Post | Private Reply
good observation..... against all odds since his family came from lebanon..... so he is not a true blood mexican business man...

it takes luck and know how to become the worlds richest..... granted he has enough money.....

nafta also helped the actual business owners in mexico..... a simple example is going to the local mall and pricing a kitchen-aid cake mixer.... in the usa aprox 250.00 dollars... in mexico 500.00 dollars or around 6,700 pesos.... i am against that type of business ethics.... a simple machine that can improve the life style in a family that cost double what you pay for it in the usa.


what a shame.

donemry

Mar 13, 2010, 9:13 AM

Post #9 of 20 (2893 views)

Shortcut

Re: [cristalhombre] Forbe's World's Richest Person is.....

 Can't Post | Private Reply
Let's talk some real numbers on telephone service. My monthly telephone bill for a single line phone in Nashville, TN is $42.69 and does not include DSL. For my Telmex line plus DSL here in PV, my bill is 471 pesos. Now where is that excess charge for being in Mexico?

Rolly


Mar 13, 2010, 9:39 AM

Post #10 of 20 (2882 views)

Shortcut

Re: [donemry] Forbe's World's Richest Person is.....

 Can't Post | Private Reply
Now where is that excess charge for being in Mexico?

$471? Does that include taxes? My bill for a line and DSL is $579 with taxes.

The basic rate is not all that bad, but the long distance tolls are way out of line -- among the highest in the world.

Rolly Pirate

E-visit me http://Rollybrook.com
On Facebook as Rolly Brook

cristalhombre


Mar 13, 2010, 10:04 AM

Post #11 of 20 (2873 views)

Shortcut

Re: [donemry] Forbe's World's Richest Person is.....

 Can't Post | Private Reply
I'll have to compare my bills. Assumption is that 30% of my Pacific Northwest Bell charge is taxes.................Telmex is likely zippo on taxes.

Telmex has a market share of over 70% of the 'telecommunications' market in Mexico. 81% of land lines.

Telmex is Mr. Slim's personal ATM machine - They make a ton of $$$$ as you can see from their posted earnings. Verizon - the king in the USA posts about 1/5th the net income. Verizon would look the same if they dominated a market like Telmex and had the blessings of FTC to do this. That's the difference. When the GOVERNMENT looks after you and makes it very difficult for anyone else to compete - you get get to celebrate your story in Forbes.


Financial results

4Q’09:

Inc.

• Revenues 29.7 billion pesos (3.9)%

• Costs and expenses 21.9 billion pesos 1.2%

Sales and services 7.5%

Commercial, administrative

and general 2.0%

• EBITDA 12.2 billion pesos

Margin 41.2%

• Operating income 7.8 billion pesos

Margin 26.1%

• Financing cost 1.2 billion pesos


• Net income 5.0 billion pesos 67.7%





"NOT ALL WHO WANDER ARE LOST...."
Attachments: telmexWebcast4Q09.pdf (160 KB)

esperanza

Mar 13, 2010, 10:58 AM

Post #12 of 20 (2863 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Rolly] Forbe's World's Richest Person is.....

 Can't Post | Private Reply
In Reply To
Now where is that excess charge for being in Mexico?

$471? Does that include taxes? My bill for a line and DSL is $579 with taxes.

The basic rate is not all that bad, but the long distance tolls are way out of line -- among the highest in the world.
My February bill for the Telmex "Paquete Acerques" in Morelia is 505.76 plus 16% IVA. According to the explanatory information printed on the bill, that includes:
--monthly line rental
--100 local calls
--100 minutes to the USA
--unlimited national long distance (i.e., within Mexico)
--6 additional digital services, whatever those might be

According to the Telmex website, the monthly charges for Paquete Acerques are not the same as what I pay, nor are the services the same as those printed on my bill. I tried to call Telmex a few minutes ago to find out what the deal is, but they won't be open again till Monday. I'll call them then.

The charges that make one's jaw drop are for calls from this land line to cellular phones. One minute: 1.51 pesos. Two minutes: 3.02 pesos. Three minutes: 4.53 pesos.

Local Telcel (not Telmex, but Telcel is also owned by Slim) calls to and from cellular phones are 1.71 pesos per minute. We won't even talk about long distance calls from one cellular phone to another. Telcel cellular phone charges in Mexico are among the highest in the world. Talk about a cash cow...




http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com









(This post was edited by esperanza on Mar 13, 2010, 10:59 AM)

morgaine7


Mar 13, 2010, 11:27 AM

Post #13 of 20 (2854 views)

Shortcut

Re: [esperanza] Forbe's World's Richest Person is.....

 Can't Post | Private Reply
I also have "Paquete Acercas" at the same price (except that our IVA in La Paz is only 11%). Weirdly, my February bill doesn't mention the 100 free minutes to the US, although the previous one did. But I did have 41 minutes' worth of calls to the US and wasn't charged for them.

Edit: My March bill arrived in the mail just after I wrote that, and my 100 minutes to the US are shown again. But unfortunately, they apparently do not cover calls to 800 numbers. Ouch!! :-(

In case anybody wants to feel better about long-distance rates: In December I was stranded overnight in Atlanta and made two three-minute domestic collect calls from an airport pay phone to relatives in Ohio. They were billed $66.52, and no, it wasn't a "mistake" (as an employee snottily told my brother when he inquired). For that price, I could have talked from here in Mexico for more than seven hours!!

Kate


(This post was edited by morgaine7 on Mar 13, 2010, 11:52 AM)

donemry

Mar 13, 2010, 1:57 PM

Post #14 of 20 (2833 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Rolly] Forbe's World's Richest Person is.....

 Can't Post | Private Reply
Rolly, I mis-remembered, the current bill is only 451 pesos.

CristalHombre, 5 billion pesos is about 400 million dollars. Why is that unreasonable? For you long time residents, how was the phone service when the government ran it?

cristalhombre


Mar 13, 2010, 10:56 PM

Post #15 of 20 (2784 views)

Shortcut

Re: [donemry] Forbe's World's Richest Person is.....

 Can't Post | Private Reply
Pues..................

Nothing wrong with making a profit............and considering Slim owns about 50% of Telefones de Mexico SAB, (Telmex, Telcel, etc) he personally pockets $200 million USD for the quarter - annualized at something like $700 million USD to over $1.2 BILLION USD. Nice - and that is the profit from Telmex (just one piece of the telecommunications empire he controls)

Without competition - which is my POINT of this discussion - he can charge rates that go unchallenged in the market place. Subscribers like Esperanza have little or NO choice for other cellular providers - in this closed market. (by closed I mean that the government controls the competition from entering the market and supports the rates charged) - this is an oligopoly.

Fortunately for Slim he owns a majority of this slot machine. It's legal and nothing wrong with him pulling in tons of cash as he is the majority stock holder................... I just don't feel it's appropriate to celebrate the dude for picking the pockets of Mexicans with excessive charges.

I am a capitalist thru and thru - so i have no beef with making a buck via the business markets - I do it myself with ethics.............but the Gordon Gecko types that live by the theme "greed is good" should NOT be the celebrity-poster boys of the legitimate global economy.

But hey.............that's my opinion + yours is obviously different. To each his own.





"NOT ALL WHO WANDER ARE LOST...."

Manuel Dexterity

Mar 14, 2010, 7:02 AM

Post #16 of 20 (2766 views)

Shortcut

Re: [donemry] Forbe's World's Richest Person is.....

 Can't Post | Private Reply
In Reply To
For you long time residents, how was the phone service when the government ran it?

You were lucky to get a phone line back then. Existing lines went for the equivalent of 1000usd in the 70s and early 80s. They were sold in the want ads when people needed money. The trick was to get Telmex to switch it to the new residence. This was the main reason so many people getting cel phones when they first became available.

Domestic long distance was mas o menos .40usd a minute, half of that at night. Long distance to the US was 2usd a minute during business hours and 1usd at night. And many times you couldn't get a call through for days.I was just informed on our last bill that it now includes 300 free minutes to the US.

Service was nonexistent. If your line went dead it could take months to get it fixed.

The difference between now and then is like night and day. Let Slim make his money.

esperanza

Mar 14, 2010, 11:34 AM

Post #17 of 20 (2725 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Manuel Dexterity] Forbe's World's Richest Person is.....

 Can't Post | Private Reply
Quote
Subscribers like Esperanza have little or NO choice for other cellular providers - in this closed market.
Cristalhombre, there are a number of options for Mexican cellular phones OTHER than Telcel. A few of those are Movistar, IUSACEL, Axtel, and a couple of others that offer decent coverage. Those companies are smaller than Telcel, but they still make a dent in the profits.

Manuel Dexterity's comments on Mexican land-line telephone service in the past are absolutely correct. I remember the first time I went to visit friends in a certain small town in Michoacán--in 1981--and discovered that there were two 'private' telephones in the whole town: the mayor's office had one and the parish office had one. Other than that, there were public casetas for making telephone calls, either local or long distance. Today, there are telephones in the majority of homes and the town has any number of small Internet cafés. For those who need them, the casetas still operate. Even in Mexico's big cities, casetas are still common.

We used to use the Mexican telegraph office a lot to communicate with friends. It was easy to fire off a telegram, which was delivered to the recipient at home by a guy on a bicycle. Pretty soon the recipient would send an answer back to you. Prehistoric email...LOL.




http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com









(This post was edited by tonyburton on Mar 14, 2010, 4:16 PM)

La Isla


Mar 14, 2010, 12:44 PM

Post #18 of 20 (2707 views)

Shortcut

Re: [donemry] Forbe's World's Richest Person is.....

 Can't Post | Private Reply
In Reply To


For you long time residents, how was the phone service when the government ran it?

Back in the late 1970s, I was living in Texcoco, a small city near the D.F. I didn't even try to get a telephone line in my apartment because I knew it might take a couple of years (or never) to get one. When I wanted to make a call to the States, I would try to use the telephone in the main office at the university where I worked. It could take several attempts to get an open line, and then you always kept your fingers crossed in hopes that your call would actually go through! Now, of course, I can make international calls by dialing directly from my home phone, and they almost always go through. I do seem to get an inordinate amount of wrong numbers, though, many more than I remember getting in the States.

johanson


Mar 14, 2010, 1:10 PM

Post #19 of 20 (2700 views)

Shortcut

Re: [esperanza] Forbe's World's Richest Person is.....

 Can't Post | Private Reply
"Prehistoric email...LOL." That made me laugh, Esperanza. Great comment. :)

esperanza

Mar 16, 2010, 3:14 PM

Post #20 of 20 (2581 views)

Shortcut

Re: [esperanza] Forbe's World's Richest Person is.....

 Can't Post | Private Reply
In Reply To
In Reply To
Now where is that excess charge for being in Mexico?

$471? Does that include taxes? My bill for a line and DSL is $579 with taxes.

The basic rate is not all that bad, but the long distance tolls are way out of line -- among the highest in the world.
My February bill for the Telmex "Paquete Acerques" in Morelia is 505.76 plus 16% IVA. According to the explanatory information printed on the bill, that includes:
--monthly line rental
--100 local calls
--100 minutes to the USA
--unlimited national long distance (i.e., within Mexico)
--6 additional digital services, whatever those might be

According to the Telmex website, the monthly charges for Paquete Acerques are not the same as what I pay, nor are the services the same as those printed on my bill. I tried to call Telmex a few minutes ago to find out what the deal is, but they won't be open again till Monday. I'll call them then.

The charges that make one's jaw drop are for calls from this land line to cellular phones. One minute: 1.51 pesos. Two minutes: 3.02 pesos. Three minutes: 4.53 pesos.

Local Telcel (not Telmex, but Telcel is also owned by Slim) calls to and from cellular phones are 1.71 pesos per minute. We won't even talk about long distance calls from one cellular phone to another. Telcel cellular phone charges in Mexico are among the highest in the world. Talk about a cash cow...




http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com







 
 
 
Search for (advanced search) Powered by Gossamer Forum v.1.2.4