CARTA A LA JUVENTUD DE MÉXICO La Historia del ING. CARLOS SLIM (Segunda parte) | Cracks Podcast #352

That we had to make the difference between Israel and Marlboro very high. I told them all to get lost, didn't I? Man, I made a change there with Televisa regarding airtime. No, no, no. That year we beat them at Marlboro, I think by 300 points. He told me that they were going to buy us and that it wasn't worth anything because Marlboro belonged to them. So, what do you think I did? I raised the price of Marlboro by 20%. We're going to squeeze Marlboro dry and its market share is going to fall. It took them 3 months to return.

Look, I honestly didn't feel like going in. Then, when the 1995 crisis hit, the market became complicated. That's when we decided to do the 'cell phone friend' program, subsidizing the phones to sell cards. When we started in Mexico, mobile telephony had 30,000 or 35,000 customers. In mobile telephony we agreed that in 3 years it would grow to 200,000 phones, it reached 230,000 and we ended up having 85,000, right? Right now I think we're at 82 million curtains. The good thing we did at Telmex was that we separated Telcel from Telmex so that they would be competitors, because it was typical for them to try to make the cell phone not work because it would affect the other one, or we made them compete with each other.

One of our fundamental principles is not to have many hierarchical levels, because when companies have hierarchical levels and large corporate structures, the directors don't get involved in the operations, but rather in the corporate structure. In other words, small companies, for example, that become large, do so because they develop. Well, Inbursa, Inbursa is a very small company; in terms of profits, it is the third largest bank in Mexico.

That's a good question. My children, grandchildren, and so on, agree to contribute to the foundation to make it even bigger, because we are already involved in the idea of combating extreme poverty and the ideal would be to achieve two things in Mexico, one is to grow at 4 or 5% of GDP and the other is not, look what I had many years ago I wrote a letter, so now I did it again.

We entrepreneurs are creators and temporary administrators of wealth, generating development and employment, and then we leave and nothing happens. We must leave a better country for our children, but it is more important to leave better children for our country.

I'm missing something very important that I've been thinking about for many years.

Look, it's been a failure. When I saw them there in the 60s and later in Mexico and in many other places, uh, the conglomerates. So these have failed in the United States: Golf Western, I don't know what, I don't know how many. General Electric has already been completely destroyed as well. General Electric, these conglomerates don't work because they're not easy to manage, right? So what we've done is that we have different companies. The one who manages Inbursa is different from the one who manages América Móvil or the one who manages FCC in Spain, right? In Spain, in fact, we have already divided it into two. We have this AARSO with several companies, but this one is very controlled. This one is managed by Sambos, this one is managed by one group, this one is managed by another group. Yes, yes, let me explain. Mm. Well, they had the separate ones. Keep them separate. Then, as you know, we removed the towers of America Mobile. Well, as I was saying, it has taken a long time to separate Inbursa into a capital company for venture capital investments, or for investments, yes, for venture capital and non-risk capital, of course, right? When she leaves, she'll have a freedom that Inbursa doesn't have. Imursa focuses on its own business, which is promoting investments and companies, developing businesses, and there is no point at which the economies of scale that come with being part of a group are lost. Each company fends for itself, and when, for example, a company like the construction company and the infrastructure company, if the construction company quotes a higher price than the other, it buys from the latter, right? I'm not sure if this is clear, where do we have it?

Look, one of the things, if you read the principles, one of our foundations is not to have many hierarchical levels. Because when companies have hierarchical levels and large corporate structures, directors don't get involved in operations, but rather in the corporate structure, because the one they have to keep happy is the corporate structure. So, they groom the corporate side and neglect the operation. Therefore, we need to have these few hierarchical levels. That's why I said that small companies, for example, that become big do so because they develop. We had, well, Inbursa, Inbursa is a very small company, it had, uh, $80,000 of capital, it lasted like that for a few years, right? First there were three partners, then I was left on my own. 'Hey, one of them swapped the bag for the tray,' they told him. This one, then three more came in, then two left, etc., etc. And here's Imbursa, right? Inbursa was important first because it was founded in '65, in '81 we were barely given the concession of investment company. Interestingly, it was before the nationalization of the banks. With the nationalization of the banks, packages were sold. We bought a package in '84, this one that came from Vancouver, which included the insurance company and the surety company. So, the insurance company has been important for the group, hasn't it? And obviously we didn't go into any bank, but when the banks were finally sold off, they gave out new concessions. We took over, we have the concession, it's from '93, right, Tony? Or 92.

93.

Then, they gave us the bank concession in 93. We started, well, it's been 30 years, but from '65 to '80 to '93 is almost 30 years too. Now, there has been one very important thing at Imbursa that we want to continue maintaining: nothing happened to it in the crisis of '82, on the contrary, it started investing in the crisis of '95, which was a bank collapse; my stock exchange already existed, right? He didn't have to go into Fobaproa, on the contrary, there were two banks, I think, right? We and Citybank, no, I don't remember anymore, but Imbursa has never fallen into bankruptcy problems, or needed support, or needed anything like that in 60 years. 60 years old. This, well, and look, I don't know, right now Imbursa in terms of profit is the third largest bank in Mexico, not in size, but the seventh largest bank in terms of structure and the third largest bank in terms of results.

That's a good question. Well, look, since I'm not in them, I just bother them from the outside, so it doesn't cost me that much. Perhaps I have found some of them inconvenient, let's say. I don't know if I'm making myself clear, but I'm sure that these people are getting in the way of the group, and I'm telling them that. So sometimes that helps, but normally I go into the ones that have potential and the ones that are in trouble. I don't know if I'm making myself clear. Of course, if there's a problem in any company, we'll get involved to see what's going on and how to fix it. And if it has potential, then carefully review how to realize that potential.

I told my children when they were young that if they wanted to be entrepreneurs and all that, great, and if not, it didn't matter, if they weren't interested, they shouldn't force themselves to do it, let's say, not to get involved. So that's also with the grandchildren. If a grandson wants to be a doctor or a photographer, or a granddaughter something else, then let them dedicate themselves to what they want. But there are several who have been interested in the business side, and some already have direct responsibilities while others are preparing. Very good. They work very well. This, first in education, we eat together every Wednesday and there is an open, direct, loving, friendly relationship, in which there is no jealousy or envy, nor are they thinking about material things, etc. Now we are going to further strengthen the foundation, and all those who are already shareholders—my children, grandchildren, and so on—agree to contribute to the foundation to make it even bigger, because we are already committed to the idea of combating extreme poverty, and ideally, we would like to achieve two things in Mexico: one, to grow at 4 or 5% of GDP and generate something, and two, to raise the socioeconomic level of the population.

From childhood, the relationship from childhood, the friendship between children from childhood, the lack of envy or material ambitions, of having, my children did not have a car until I don't know when, Carlos who drives cars and that doesn't bring his Ferrari, his I don't know what brand or such, he brings his normal car. This isn't about not looking to have material things like children. You give a child one thing, they play with it, then they see something else, then they grab another thing, and they grab another thing, right? So I think that's been important, but I think it's about children having that education, that training, so they're not thinking about what they want to have. And fortunately, each family, each marriage has been good in that sense. In other words, the parents have been good educators of their children.

Well, train them. Some of these have more in common with me than others. Some are already working. We have lunch on Wednesdays, we all chat. Right now we already have the youngest granddaughter, she's 6 years old, but she's very mischievous. The other day when we went to Carlos's house, we were about to leave in the elevator, and he did a handstand in the elevator with one hand. There's the photo, taken with one hand. Incredible. He is 6 years old. Um, um, you were at the interns' place, uh, you were peeking in before or before Carlos started.

Yes, yes. Didn't you see the little girl dancing and dancing?

There was dancing and dancing in the forum. I arrived there around 9:45 or 9:20. He was already dancing to the music and I think they were even applauding him. There he was, jumping and jumping. It has already been presented at the National Auditorium. % of the National Auditorium with 10,000 girls and didn't give him any. No, they're all doing very well. A family, fortunately, is founded on marriage, and as you said, the most important thing is marriage. What's the secret to a good marriage, engineer?

First of all, who are you marrying? How are you getting married? Why are you getting married? etcetera, right? Second, I think that not being so premature, so early, helps. Well, it depends on what you call early. Um, for example, we're seeing some people who didn't have a youth among those who are there in that Nasdaq group. When you no longer have youth, you suddenly start to long for it, to search for it, right? This, and you try to return to your youth. Look, I think that one of the fundamental things about marriage, I have a relationship with the things about marriage, is this respect, this admiration for the partner, right? No, let it be platonic love and all, because I don't know if that platonic love will last 40 years, eh, but rather to have admiration for the other partner, to have affection, uh, not to one day arrive with that aggression that we see all the time with femicides and I don't know what else. Okay, then there's another piece of advice that's good for marriage, which is that when you're upset with your wife or she's upset with you, whatever, before going to sleep, give each other a kiss on the mouth, on the forehead, on the hand, on the cheek, just to calm things down, because when you have a disagreement with someone in general, but especially with your marriage, you tend to make it bigger, even if it's something silly, like, 'Oh, it's her fault,' and you just keep making it bigger and bigger, and since she doesn't give in, then you end up with pure nonsense and prolong the arguments. I think that's it, that they love each other, that they admire each other, that they respect each other, and that kiss is very important. Even if it's her fault, you should give her a kiss before she goes to sleep, right? It'll be left for the next day, things will be calmer now, because otherwise they'll both be so grumpy and the next day it'll be her fault, right? He's to blame and I don't know what, and he did this to me and it's a deterioration. I think there are many things about marriage, since when they get married, it's about taking care of each other. Look, I have friends who have been married for 60 years, right? My generation used to live longer, now they live less. Now that I'm getting divorced, I don't know what I'm looking for anymore; they're all just flitting around, and now they're like ships without a compass. They lose their way.

We have tried to solve some problems and some of them failed us, so we helped them. We had some projects like this years ago, for example, that in the house, in popular houses, especially in rural areas, they light the stove with coal and firewood, etc., and the smoke stays right there. And that's where they sleep, that's where they live, that's where the children are, and so on. So, it's a high-grade pollution that's causing young people to die instead of getting rid of it. So, there were some, um, what are they called? Little chimneys, right? To get him out and for him to go there. Then being able to do that in every house. I believe it's not about charity projects, but about enabling people to have education, employment, activities, uh, as you speak, what did you call it? The marriage had times of how they were a couple, the quality of their relationship. Yes. Well, that people who are in poverty have the opportunity to have a much better life situation, not only economically, but also to be able to get an education, to be able to have a job, and so on. And for example, one of the proposals is that we create mini-cities in Mexico City, which is a large city. So, if you make mini-cities, you live in the mini-city and then you walk from one place to another, you don't drive a car. If you want to go to another mini-city, you can, right? But by neighborhood, for example, from the neighborhood. But the idea here is not a normal neighborhood, but a place where different social, economic, and other levels live in the same area. That came to me from the historic center. It wasn't completely changed, it was abandoned. Everyone had left the historic center—government offices, banks, department stores—the historic center had been abandoned, hadn't it? I think two things are important: one, to grow the country economically by investing more, and two, to pull the socioeconomic level upwards economically in activities, right? For example, taking better care of universities, right? I proposed to Salman Cen that they should do not only economic education, I mean academic education, but also job training. And they didn't do it, so we did it ourselves. We have about 400 courses, and 14 million people have taken them. So, take one course, take the other. So, we try to have courses on whatever is necessary and whatever is needed.

A thing called a light is connected. It connects and turns on. I started. Begin. Why aren't you logging on? Really. Connect. Okay, I'll connect in a bit. It says 'learn' here. Look, you saw it, learn from it. You push him, he learns. It says 'education' there. Look, get trained for employment, health, culture, education. And it starts telling you what things might interest you. And that's open to anyone. Ah, free. Oh, and we've also managed to give them a diploma for taking a course, and the CP certifies it; the CP is helping. They suddenly tell you no and suddenly they tell you yes, but in general it's being done.

From the caves. Well, I think art has been a fantastic human expression from the beginning. For example, I think there are precedents of this dating back 80,000 years in Africa. Then, I don't know if you've seen the ones in Mexico on the peninsula, the cave paintings. Yes. No, well I think they say 8000 years and 10,000. Then friends, friends, for example, Juan Zoriano told me that art requires freedom, that when there is no freedom there is no art. So I was saying, for example, in the Muslim world there are repeated designs of mosaics and this and that, but there's a lack of that freedom that art demands, right? This guy then told me that all artists copy each other because I went to an exhibition where he was there, it was called Michelangelo and Rodan. And well, I think the first thing that impresses you, at least it did me, about what human beings do is architecture. The great churches, cathedrals, buildings, these beautiful, complicated ones, made some hundreds of years ago and others thousands of years ago, right? This is impressive, what they do. And then comes the sculpture. There are some sculptures that catch your eye and you like them even if you have no sensitivity whatsoever. Then I'm not good at it, I don't like contemporary art, I don't understand it, like what Mondrian did, he's a classical painter and his paintings are worth 30,000, 40,000, I don't know how much. Instead, he paints a white and yellow picture, I don't know what it's worth, $00,000 and things like that, I don't understand them. To be honest, museums of, I don't know if modern art, or whatever it's called, or contemporary art, to be honest, I don't like art in general. And what you see. Well, on the other hand, my wife liked art, didn't she? It was during our honeymoon; in fact, we would go to the museum and he would stay looking at some of the pieces. I would tell him, he would stay for a long time, I would say, 'Hey, well, explain to me what you are seeing, how you are seeing it, etc.' And it starts to interest you, doesn't it? the wonder of the artist. His ability to paint, for example, Venice, is very impressive. They paint Venice and it's beautiful, every window, every detail, everything as if they had spent their whole lives there painting. It's spectacular. It is the type of painting that we promote the most right now, for example, it turns out that from the 10th century and now it seems that from the 15th to the 18th to the 19th there was a kind of ice age in Europe. Then you see in some places the lake or the river frozen with big barges on top and you see horse-drawn carts pulling these wagons or whatever they're called and you see holes made by people who are fishing and I don't know if that was just the winter. Some say that throughout that time there was also... they say that the tames did freeze a piece. These are fantastic works of art.

Well, I've become addicted. Yeah, it's a vice. Yes, it's a vice. It's a vice. Well, I look at catalogs. First they mark them for me. Let's see what you think of this one. But I've already stopped them because they send me too many, I already said, 'Don't send me so many anymore.' This, well, it's a vice, but it's been good for the museum. Furthermore, it is a heritage because there are some paintings that are really very cheap and there are others that they ask for 3 million, 5 million. Do you know that the reason is that religious paintings were very cheap? Because neither the Jews, nor the Muslims, nor I don't know what else, bought them, right? I think even Christians reject this—I don't know if they're with the saints or not—but yes, for example, strange, irrational things happen, like paying 550 million, 600 million for Leonardo, whether it's Leonardo or not, it's madness. I think it was a 550, right?

We have made replicas of Michelangelo. Yes, we practically have everything. As you saw here upon entering, we have Moses. He is Moses. White is Michelangelo's Moses. This is a replica, isn't it? Of course. How are you? I told them in Rome. That one is in the Vatican, I think, if they haven't moved it. The Vatican is the same. But we have the David museum. Yes, that one does measure 5 meters 17 cm. Yes, they already saw him at the David. So now they have made me a replica of the veiled Christ. I don't know if you've seen it. Yes, they saw it. Ah, well, it was next to the Pietàs and now it's in a little room right there in front where the gate of hell is and you go in and there are many paintings of that type and the veiled Christ in marble, which is a work by an Italian artist. Naples is in Naples. I haven't seen him there, but he came out looking very good; he's been like this for several months now.

From Venice. We continue to acquire from Venice. Venice has been a vice. Here we have the catalogs, and the truth is that there are some beautiful works of art. You don't understand how someone can express it, how an artist can express it there. Hey, talk to Salvador, please. No, pass me the little art book you took with you. This one keeps them for me and it's amazing. Now it turns out that apart from SOD and Cristis, there are some museums, there are some very good European auction houses, they bring things and things and things. Of course, there are Spanish women, right? And Morton is already selling many here, but there are many Spanish works. Well, look, this is paradise, isn't it? This is a collection. Here you can see they are in the snow, they are walking there. Dutch. It didn't impress me because there they are on the horse pulling the cart. Look, for example, pass him this Greek painting, show it to him. No, we've had that one in the museum for a while now. He has all of this in the museum. Yes. Not much more. on display. Yes. No, it's not that we also have the museum that I recommend if you like visiting museums, the museum of the we have two others, the one of the house of Guillermo Tobar that is in the Roma neighborhood and in Plaza Loreto, that's where we started the final museum is 94. Right now there is an exhibition of Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, which is very interesting. And there's another one about film equipment. There's another portrait, and there's one that's really worth seeing; there's one of Venice, all beautiful paintings of Venice. It is in Loreto.

Yes, I said it in one of his many interviews. No, it's fine, right? What did I say? No, it's very good. Yes, no, look what I had many years ago, I wrote a letter to young people. Does she know that letter or not?

So I did it again just now. I already left her there hurting me at night and I changed her a little more. I don't need to add anything here, do I? What I need is to put it somewhere in here. Values and principles are what are required, aren't they? In life.