Engineering Carlos Slim Helu's interview performed by Estela Caparelli, published by Epoca Negócios magazine, number 6, August 1th, 2007.

ONE FOOT IN BRAZIL

Which are Slim’s companies in Brazil and how they are doing.
By Eduardo Vieira

América Móvil, controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, owns only three companies in Brazil, but they are worth billions. Together, cell phone operator Claro, fixed telephony operator Embratel and Pay TV company NET (of which Slim owns 49%) sold R$24.2 billion in the country in 2006 (close to 12 billion US Dollars), according to a study by the Teleco consulting agency, specialized in telecommunications. This is still far from sales by Telmex and América Móvil which in all Latin America amounted to US$36.8 billion. However, Slim’s companies constitute the second largest telecommunications group in Brazil, right behind the Telefónica group. Specialists estimate that Slim must have invested at least US$10 billion in the country. When he started his empire’s branch in Brazil, he chose cellular telephony as a starting point. From 2002 to 2003, he invested US$5 billion – in company acquisitions and infrastructure licenses and investments – to start Claro, born from the purchase of BCP, a telephone company with presence in Sao Paulo. In 2004 Slim bought Embratel; the following year, he bought half of Net.

Even with all this power, Slim’s situation in Brazil is not exuberant. For years Embratel, has been oscillating between discreet profit and slight losses. The greatest problem is Claro. In spite of disputing with TIM the second spot among the major cell phone companies, it was the only one in the sector which lost money in 2006. It was the only one of América Móvil’s 12 companies in the continent which didn’t make a profit. Two are the factors that help explain the difficulties. First: It took a lot of money to get it started. It was necessary to consolidate five different regional companies. Second: Claro was one of the few companies in which Slim had to start a brand from scratch. After losing to Telefónica the battle for TIM, Slim’s got his eye set on Telemig Celular, a Mina Gerais operator that is considered among the healthiest and most strategic national companies.

SOULS THAT ARE NOT MATES

The new leader of the world’s millionaires and his predecessor are very different, from taste to origins.

  Carlos Slim Helú   William Gates III
Origin
 Son of a Lebanese merchant and Mexican mother   His father was a lawyer father and his mother a bank director
Place of Birth
 Mexico City, Mexico   Seattle, United States of America
Age
 67 years old   51 years old
Studies
 Civil Engineering by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México   Dropped out from Harvard University Law School
Marital Status
 Widower   Married
Heirs Six children   Three children
How he became one of the richest in the world
 As leader of the consortium that bought Telmex, state-owned telephone company in 1990.   Due to the popularization of Windows, created by Microsoft, at the beginning of the 1990’s.
Entrepreneurial Achievements
 Transformed declining companies and invested in fixed and cellular telephony   Gambled on software at a time when hardware was considered more valuable
Style
 He’s considered the world’s most important collector of Rodin sculptures   He’s considered the world’s most important philanthropist, having donated over US$40 billion.
Leisure
 He attends good restaurants regularly. Once a week he gathers with his six children and nine grandchildren for dinner.   He reads business-related books; plays golf and bridge.

PROFILE OF THE EMPIRE

How the largest business conglomerate in Latin America is formed

SLIM’S DECALOGUE
The billionaire’s golden rules

Carlos Slim’s formula for success is summarized by himself in a list that contains the ten basic principles of his management model. The decalogue was introduced for the first time to businessmen and associates at Grupo Inbursa’s famous 40-year anniversary celebration in December 2005. Slim says that his business philosophy is, to a great extent, product of his father’s influence, Lebanese merchant Julián Slim Haddad. Principle number 10, according to him, reflects his corporate experience: “The businessman is a creator of wealth which he administers temporarily”.

  1. Prefer simple structures, organizations with a minimum of hierarchical levels and flexibility and quickness in the decision-making. The advantages of the small company are what make larger companies big.
  2. Maintaining austerity in time of fat cows strengthens, capitalizes and accelerates development of the company. This avoids drastic changes in times of crisis.
  3. Always remain active and tireless in relation to modernization, simplification and improvement of the productive processes. Seek improvement of productivity and competitivity as well as reduction of costs and expenses with through the guidance of the major world references.
  4. The company must never be limited to the parameters of the owner or manager. We get big within our own small barnyard.
  5. There is no goal we cannot reach if we worked united, with clarity of objectives and knowledge of the available tools.
  6. Money leaving the company, evaporates; therefore, we re-invest profits
  7. Creativity applies not only to business, but also to the solution of many of the problems in our countries.
  8. Firm and patient optimism always bear fruit.
  9. All times are good for those who know how to work and have the means to do it.
  10. Our premise is that nothing is taken from here. The businessman is a creator of wealth which he manages temporarily.


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