It Was A Very Good Year For Carlos Slim

Whenever  I read about how it`s America`s moral duty to take in Mexicans, it warms my heart to think that at least one Mexican won`t have to be leaving his family and home behind. From the Wall Street Journal:

How to Invest like the World`s Richest Man

by Robert Frank
No, this isn`t an article about Bill Gates or Warren Buffet. It is about Carlos Slim, who has been pulling far ahead of his two closest competitors in the race for world`s richest man.

Bloomberg reports that Carlos` publicly disclosed holdings soared 37 % to $70 billion in 2010. Meantime, Warren Buffett`s returns were a more modest 22%, while Bill Gates` shares in Microsoft fell.

So how did Slim do it?

Mainly by keeping his money at home in Mexico and selling into the gold rush. Telefonos de Mexico, the state-owned monopoly he acquired, was a dud last year, but his stake in American Movil [his cellular spinoff of his monopoly] soared 15%….

His biggest loser was his stake in the New York Times, down 21%.

You know, every time Carlos Slim picks up the NYT and reads an article or editorial pipelined straight from the SPLC about how only frothing-at-the-mouth racists worry about illegal immigration, I think he feels like he`s getting his money`s worth out of his bailout of the Times.

… Of course, it helps to have Slim`s overwhelming power and market share in Mexico, which is hard to replicate in many other countries.

Slim bought the Mexican telephone monopoly from the corrupt ruling party a couple of decades ago. Mexico has ridiculously high telephone rates, which reduces economic growth, which incentivizes more illegal immigration. But, Slim makes a fortune on expensive long-distance calls between Mexico and America, so it`s all good.