Slim saves the Gray Lady. Wait. Who is he again?

Zapatistas eating at Sanborns in Mexico, DF.

Carlos Slim, the Mexican magnate, has propped up the New York Times with a loan of $250 million that can/will be exchanged for actions in the company. I think we've gotten a little numbed by all the billions that are being tossed about in bailouts and scams and so the price tag of that little loan (which Mr. Slim can easily afford) seems ... meh.

Speaking of which, have you heard about DMG ("Diós Mío Gracias")? That's a pyramid scheme in Colombia that has fallen apart in the past few months. Unlike Madoff and the other new Madoff-alike in Florida, these cats scammed the poor. And, of course, there are many who are stubbornly unwilling to believe that they've been had and instead think the founder, David Murcia Guzman, is now incarcerated wrongly. Here's a tragic example:

Por : david te amamos y creemos en ti 2008-12-28 01:50:58
dios mio gracias por poner en mi camino a un ser tan extraordinario como david murcia guzman dios mio gracias por mostrarme que en colombia no todo es corrupcion y maldad dios mio gracias por presentarme al ser mas humano,bueno y generoso te amo dios por esta oportunidad que me das de ver un ser limpio como david dios mio gracias por ese privilegio que me das de pertenecer a la familia dmg


But, back to Mr. Slim. Here's a little of what Grupo Carso (named by Mr. Slim as an amalgamation of his and his wife's first names, "Carlos" and "Soumaya") owns:

Telmex: the Mexican telecommunications giant that has stretched from the United States to Argentina.

America Movil: they do cellphones in nearly all of the hemisphere (including Paraguay!).

Grupo Financiero Inbursa: a financial services group that does banking and all kinds of financial products.

Swecomex: manufactures petroleum processing equipment, including drilling platforms.

Cigatam: a cigarette manufacturing partnership with Philip Morris.

IDEAL (Impulsora del Desarrollo y Empleo de América Latina): which focuses on infrastructure projects, building things like highways and hydropower dams.

Grupo Sanborn: including the department store chain Sanborns as well as Sears. Even Zapata's troops used to meet up at Sanborns as a rendezvous point!

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2 Responses to Slim saves the Gray Lady. Wait. Who is he again?

antar37 said...

Good blog, great info. I like the Latin American perspective on international news. Being from Miami, I think that the goings-on in Latin America affect this city more than anything else. Keep up the good work!

antar37 said...

That's funny. I think some people will click links for the sake of clicking them (works out great for Adsense, though). I think i've gotten the better end of the linking, though. All of my recent hits have been click-throughs from your-- even handed critique --of finanzas forex.
;)

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