The Group's companies currently generate more than 209,483 direct jobs and more than 500,000 indirect jobs.

It has taken Carlos Slim Helú 42 years of his life to build Grupo Carso, of which he is now Honorary Life Chairman, a position he also holds at Telmex, América Móvil and Grupo Financiero Inbursa. Although he continues to conduct business activities today, his primary focus is on the foundations he leads, thus his three sons, Carlos, Marco Antonio and Patrick Slim Domit, have taken over the reins of the businesses.

His leadership style is highly practical, for example, at Grupo Carso there is no corporate staff. Each company has its own structure so that the organization can be more efficient.

They were founded in 1965 with the acquisition of the bottling company Jarritos del Sur and the establishment of several other companies such as Casa de Bolsa Inversora Bursátil, Inmobiliaria Carso, Constructora Carso, Promotora del Hogar, S.S.G. Inmobiliaria, Mina de Agregados Pétreos el Volcán, Bienes Raíces Mexicanos and Pedregales del Sur, as well as a buy-sell-lease company for construction equipment. Inmobiliaria Carso was incorporated in January 1966. Carso comes from the first syllable of the names Carlos and Soumaya, Mr. Slim's wife.

At the end of the 1960s, several pieces of property were bought in the southern part of Mexico City, totaling approximately 2 million square meters, and were expropriated in 1989.


In June 1976 Galas de México was acquired. In 1980 the corporation that is today Grupo Carso was officially incorporated in order to obtain the majority stake in Cigatam, in which Philip Morris was a 29% partner.

The beginning of the 1980s marked a very important period in the history of Grupo Carso, as it became a group of large companies. This was a critical period in the history of Mexico, with the debt crisis and the nationalization of the Mexican banking system in 1982, the year in which Carso made the decision to invest intensively and actively.

Between 1981 and 1986 several investments and acquisitions were made, among which was Cigatam, the first and most important due to its cash flow and because in 25 years it increased its market share by 1.5% on average each year, despite very strong competition. Other companies were: Hulera el Centenario, with 23%, and Bimex. Reynolds Aluminio y Aluminio, S.A. was also integrated during this period.

In August 1984 Seguros de México and 33% of an important block of shares was purchased for US$55 million. Casa de Bolsa Inversora Bursátil, Seguros de México and Fianzas La Guardiana came together to form Grupo Financiero Inbursa.

In 1985 Grupo Carso acquired control of Artes Gráficas Unidas, Fábricas de Papel Loreto y Peña Pobre, and the majority of Sanborns and its affiliate Dennys.

In 1986 Compañía Minera FRISCO and Empresas Nacobre were acquired, as well as their affiliates, control of the market leading tire company Euzkadi, and later, in 1993, the majority of General Tire. In 1991 Hoteles Calinda (today, OSTAR Grupo Hotelero) was acquired.

At the end of 1990, Grupo Carso, together with Southwestern Bell, France Telecom and several Mexican investors, won the bid to privatize Teléfonos de México. When Grupo Carso bought 5.8% of Telmex at its privatization, it already had 25 years of successful business experience; Southwestern Bell acquired 5% and an option for an additional 5%, France Telecom 5% and a group of Mexican investors an additional 4.6%. Including Cigatam, the Grupo Carso companies have been publicly traded since 1981 and their history can be reconstructed through public information.

Grupo Carso has partially or fully sold several companies, such as tissue paper producers, tire companies, several hotels, printing and packaging businesses, part of Cigatam, El Globo, Química Fluor and Porcelanite, among others.

The Group’s companies directly employ more than 218,000 people.

Carso's growth has been possible due to the ongoing reinvestment of profits in its companies for the continued production of goods and services, which at the same time generates jobs for Mexicans. Grupo Carso focuses its growth and investments on the most dynamic sectors in the medium and long term, maintaining its flexibility and rapid decision-making.

Grupo Carso, S.A. de C.V. is a Mexican holding company that has proven its capacity to manage companies operating in highly competitive markets, both domestically and internationally.

 

T e l m e x

In 1990, Grupo Carso and other Mexican investors acquired 10.4% of the company’s stock, in partnership with SBC - 5% with an option for an additional 5% - and France Telecom 5%. Since 1990, Telmex has embraced a work culture where training, modernization, quality and customer service is a priority. Over the course of 17 years, Telmex has developed a world-class technology platform that has allowed it to optimize processes and strengthen the corporate culture, translating into improved levels of service and customer care. At Telmex, we focus our efforts on exceeding our clients’ expectations.

In 1991 Telmex was using electromechanical, analog and other obsolete equipment and technology in its operations, transportation, physical plant and maintenance, and had manual records and a 360-kilometer fiber optic network. Telmex has modernized and today has more than 103,000 kilometers of fiber optic installed throughout the country.

Telmex operates with the firm conviction to access the entire population to telecommunications, even though not having profit margins or subsidies; the Enterprise has the largest network of the country in this sector.

Public telephony has been a very important part in facilitating access for the population at large, with the number of public telephones rising from 69,025 in December 1990, to 715,000 in December 2007.

Since its privatization, Telmex  aims to anticipate and meet all the telecommunication needs of its customers, offering the most advanced products and services with the highest quality  standards and at the best prices. Telmex is the leader company in telecommunications in Mexico.

Telmex is a corporation constituted by Telefonos de Mexico, S.A.B.C.V, its subsidiary enterprises and partners that provide telecommunications services in Mexico. Its services coverage includes, among other things, the operation of the most extensive network of local and long distance services. It also provides services such as connectivity, internet access, collocations, lodging and interconnection services with other telecommunication operators.

Competition

Telmex  is the only telecommunications company in Mexico that has invested to meet the needs of communication of all the socioeconomic segments, paying special attention to rural telephony and internet connection in villages of difficult access throughout the  country.

In the fixed line business in Mexico, Telmex competes with operators primarily focused on the high-income A and B segments. In those competitive segments, Telmex has an approximate 66% market share, and 49% in the A segment alone. However, Telmex's commitment to provide telecommunications services has led to its being the country’s only fixed telephony operator with presence in the C-, D, E and prepaid socioeconomic segments, with 100% share of the market.

The participation in the general market of fixed and movil lines of Telmex are 19 %, in June 2008.


Competitors

CONCESSIONAIRE TOTAL
Local Telephony
 12
Long Distance Telephony
 15
Long Distance Dealer Firms
 10
Local Cable Telephony
 30
Public Telephony
106
ISP Providers
 443
Private Network Providers 24
  640

Investment

Since its privatization, Telmex has invested more than 30,000 million dollars only in Mexico, since its total investments between 1999 and 2007 in the telecommunications sector were about 45,818 million dollars; in other words, Telmex investments represented more than 65%.

In this course, Telmex had provided the 82% of the investments in fixed telephony.

America Movil

In September 2000, Telmex started separating its cellular business and most of the international investments to create the new company América Móvil.

The decision to separate the business was taken as it was realized that it could be an advantage to have independent firms that could compete among themselves, having an approach of business and financial flexibility to cope with the different strategies of Telmex and América Móvil.

Since February 7, 2001, when América Móvil shares began to be considered in the Stock Market in Mexico, New York and Madrid, the new firm was located as the leading cellular company in Latin America and one of the largest companies in the world.

Today, América Móvil operates in the following countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,  El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, United States and Mexico.

América Móvil is a very good example of value creation for investors. It was a pioneer in the prepayment area since 1996, accelerating the development of an existing scheme, the “Hot Bill” real-time billing service. This gave rise to the prepaid system, Telcel´s Amigo was born in April 1966, a solution that revolutionized the Mexican, Latin American and global markets.

América Móvil is the leading wireless services provider in Latin America. In June 2008, has 165.3 million cellular subscribers and 3.9 million in fixed lines on the American Continent.


 

TELMEX Internacional

2007 brought an important event in the history of Telmex. On December 21st, the General Assembly of Shareholders adopted the strategic initiative to reorganize the corporate structure of Telmex in two independent companies. Telmex split its operations in Latin America, as well as the business of Seccion Amarilla (Yellow Pages). A new company called TELMEX International was created.

With this split it is expected to:

TELMEX International operates in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay, offering a full regional and local support structure to respond with preciseness and efficiency to the requirements of customers, also operates in the United States and Mexico through Seccion Amarilla (Yellow Pages).

On June 10th, 2008 began the listing of TELMEX International Exchanges in New York, Madrid and Mexico .

www.telmexinternacional.com

 


The Ten Principles of Grupo Carso.

Carlos Slim Helú summarizes what he considers to be the Group’s business principles in 10 points, which have been communicated to his relatives, colleagues, employees and work force.

  1. Simple structures, organizations with minimal hierarchies, personal development and internal training for executives. Flexibility and rapid decision making. Operate with small company advantages, those that make great companies grow large.

  2. Maintain austerity in good times in order to strengthen, capitalize and accelerate the development of the company, and thus avoid bitterly drastic adjustments in times of crisis.

  3. Always be active in modernization, growth, training, quality and the simplification and continuous improvement of production processes. Increase productivity and competitiveness, reduce costs and expenses using global benchmarks.

  4. Companies should never be limited by the size of the owner or manager. Do not be a big fish in a small pond. Minimize investment in non-productive assets.

  5. There is no challenge that we cannot overcome if we work together, with clear objectives and knowing the tools we have at our disposal.

  6. Money that leaves the company evaporates. This is why we reinvest profits.

  7. Corporate creativity is not only applicable to business, but also to solving many of the problems our countries face. This is what we do through the Group's Foundations.

  8. Firm and patient optimism always yields its rewards.

  9. All times are good for those who know how to work and have the tools to do so.

  10. Our premise is and has always been that we leave with nothing; that we can only do things while we are alive and that businessmen are creators of the wealth they temporarily manage.

Carlos Slim took some of these points from business lessons from his father, Julián Slim Haddad, who brought his son to work at a very young age and noted his unique interest in commerce.


Ideal

The new challenge is to promote the development of Latin America and fight backwardness by training and developing human and physical capital with a company named IDEAL (Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo en América Latina, or Promoter of Development and Employment in Latin America), which is primarily focused on developing physical capital; and two foundations, the first making profitable investments and the second, supporting training and development of human capital on a non-profit basis.

 

Grupo Carso currently includes the following holding companies:
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