The Story behind Carlos Slim Helu, the Business Magnate

Carlos Slim Helu

Carlos slim Helu is a Mexican business magnate currently the second richest man in the world as ranked by Forbes(July 2015). On March 2010, Carlos overtook Gates and buffet and became the world’s number one richest man with a net worth of 53.5 billion. He later fell to the second position in May 2013 due to a massive fall in América Móvil’s stock. He currently has an estimated net worth of $77.1 billion with most of his worth in the telecommunication industry. He is currently the chief executive of the two giant telecommunication companies Telmex and América Móvil. Telmex is a Mexican telecommunication company that owns 90% of the telephone lines in Mexico City and 80% of the lines in Mexico. Slim currently owns 49.1% of telmex. Currently, Slim’s América Móvil controls 70% of the mobile phone market in Mexico, and 80% of landlines.

His father, Julián Slim Haddad (Lebanese), was a business tycoon who taught Carlos how to read financial sheets and keep accurate records. Carlos has practiced this throughout his entire life and he even currently prefers keeping his data in notebooks instead of computer. He doesn’t have a computer in his office.  Carlos started following his father’s investment footsteps at age 11. He made his first investment at age 11, in a government saving bond. At age 12 he purchased his first stock by purchasing shares in a Mexican bank.

Carlos is a graduate of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, School of Engineering, where he studied Civil Engineering. “I am a man of numbers, from when I was very young, and that's why I selected engineering” Carlos disclosed this in an interview he had with academy of achievement. He believed his mathematical prowess gave him a key advantage in the business world.

He started his career as a stock trader in Mexico after graduating from college in 1961.  In 1965 his cash flow from investments reached $400,000 which helped him found the stock brokerage Inversora Bursátil. It also helped him lay the financial groundwork for Grupo Carso. According to an interview he had with academy of achievement he and his brother bought a bottling company of soft drinks in two states, Morenos and Guerrero in 1965. He also formed a construction company with a classmate in the same year.  At age 25, carlos built the foundations of Grupo Carso which was legally incorporated in January 1966. The name carso was coined from the first three letters of his name Carlos and the first two letters  Soumaya - his wife's name.

He is an intelligent businessman known for purchasing troubled assets at depressed prices and reselling them later at attractive prices. According to Slim He looks at the potential development of a company and buys it at low price and in bad condition. In 1982 the economic crises in Mexico made Carlos and his grupo Carso to take advantage of depressed companies by acquiring massive shares in different industries at depressed valuation. One of the investments that brought huge cash flow was the Cigatam. They used returns from this portfolio to invest in different opportunities. In 1996, he purchased a small stake in Prodigy when the company had fewer than 200,000 subscribers. In 1997, he made an outright purchase of Progidy for $100million in cash and in $150 million in debt consumption. Slim is using Pogidy as the official ISP of telmex in Mexico. 

He served as the first Chairman of the "Latin American Committee" of the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange. He was a member of the board of directors of Altria (previously Philip Morris Companies), Vice Chairman of the Mexican Stock Exchange, Chairman of the Mexican Association of Brokerage Firms, Board Member for SBC Communications, Inc.

Success Story of Oprah Gail Winfrey

Oprah Gail Winfrey is a magnate in the media industry and one of the 100 most influential women in the world (ranked by time magazine). Forbes has also ranked her as the first Black billionaire in world. Winfrey is currently the chairwoman and CEO of Harpo Production. She is popular for being an illustrious talk show host, producer, media proprietor, philanthropist and actress.  The media mogul has been ranked as the richest African-American of the 20^th century. In 2013, Oprah was awarded American’s highest civilian honor, Presidential Medal of Freedom, by Barack Obama. 

Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi, USA. She was born to Vernon Winfrey, father, and Vernita Lee, mother, who were unmarried at her birth. The actual name on her birth certificate was Orpah, from the Bible, but her close relatives and friends mispronounced it as Oprah almost from birth so she also maintained it. Within the first year of her birth, her mother left for Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to find job and left Winfrey in the care of her grandmother on a farm in Mississippi. Her grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee, taught young Oprah how to read at an early age. The grandmother was poor that she made dresses from potato sacks for Winfrey to wear. At age 3 Winfrey started reciting Bible verses and poems in churches. At age 5, she started kindergarten already knowing how to read and write.

At age six, Oprah was sent to her mother, who was a housemaid at Milwaukee. Her mother’s lack of attention made Winfrey’s life miserable. During the long day when her mother was absent, Winfrey was sexually assaulted by her cousin, uncle and a family friend (starting from age 9). She was taken for ice cream and told to keep the assaults a secret. She only disclosed it to family members at age 24.  She announced this publicly on a 1986 episode of her TV show when she was talking on sexual abuse. At age 14 Winfrey was out on her own and sexually promiscuous. She got pregnant at this stage but kept it a secret from her parents until the pregnancy was seven months. She gave birth, pre maturely, at the seventh month but the baby died at infancy.

After the death of the baby her mother sent her to Nashville, Tennessee to live with her father. Her life changed for good when she started living under the strict environment of her father. Her father ensured that she read a book every week and wrote a report on it. “As strict as he was, he had some concerns about me making the best of my life, and would not accept anything less than what he thought was my best” Said Oprah.

At this time, Oprah concentrated on her education and public speaking. At East Nashville High School, Winfrey joined the speech team and won an oratory contest organised by Elks club which awarded her a full scholarship to study at Tennessee State University where she majored in Speech Communication and Performing Arts.  The following year she was invited to White House for a Youth Conference. At age 17, Winfrey was crowned Miss Black Tennessee, a beauty pageant contest. Her victory in the beauty pageant caught the attention of WVOL, a local black radio station. WVOL offered her on-air part time job. She worked there during her last year at high school and first two years at college. 

She completed college and was hired as a news anchor and a reporter at a local radio station, Nashville's WLAC-TV. Winfrey was the first black female news anchor and the youngest news anchor at the station. In 1976, she moved to WJZ-TV where she was a news co-anchor. She was also a co-host of WJZ’s talk show People are Talking, which she hosted with Richard Sher for eight years. In 1983, Winfrey was invited to host a show at Chicago TV station, WLS-TV. She was selected by the manager of WLS-TV in an audition tape sent to the station by Winfrey’s producer, Debra DiMaio. The show, AM Chicago, was just a half-hour talk show but Winfrey’s unique performance made the show very popular and it was later extended to an hour-show. In September, 1985 the show was renamed the Oprah Winfrey Show. Her fame upsurged when she played the role of “Sofia” in a movie directed by Steven Spielberg, titled The Color Purple which was based on Alice Walker’s novel. On September 8, 1986 the Opera Winfrey show was broadcast nationally which increased Oprah’s audience than her major show competitor, Phil Donahue.

In 1987, the show received three Daytime Emmy Awards and the following year Winfrey was also awarded the Broadcaster of the year by International Radio and Television Society.

In 1986, she formed her own Production company, Harpo Productions Inc. which acquired the ownership of the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1988.

In 1993, she interviewed Michael Jackson, which became the most watched interview in America with an estimated audience of 36.5 million.

Winfrey currently has a great influence on the culture, lifestyle and health of most people in the world. Her influence on Americans was proofed in 2008 when she supported Barack Obama in his campaign. She publicly recommended Obama on her show which by estimate attracted over a million votes for Obama.

In 2013, she was awarded honorary doctorate degree from Harvard and Duke University.