The Mexican businessman Carlos Slim, one of the greatest fortunes on the planet, has allowed himself the luxury of giving his opinion on domestic issues in Spain. He did it a few days ago, regarding the idea of reducing the work week included in the agreement between PSOE and Sumar to 37.5 hours. The best thing, he said from Avilés, is “to work twelve hours a day, three days a week, and delay retirement until age 75.” It was his contribution to the debate and, above all, the demonstration that he feels challenged by local problems. A reflection far from the calculated indifference with which international investors usually fly over the territory, without the intention of getting involved in skirmishes. Slim is not only expanding the business in Spain, but also strengthening his circle of influence like never before and lavishly distributing advice, reflections and public appearances.
The statements of this 83-year-old millionaire widower, with a fortune valued at nearly 95,000 million dollars, came regarding his visit to Spain to receive from the hands of King Felipe VI the Ceapi award for Latin American business development. He did so supported by Felipe González and the president of Santander, Ana Botín, in an act in which he expressed his desire to intensify “the association between Mexico and Spain.” He also praised “the 300 years of viceroyalty” of New Spain, between 1521 and 1821, in which the first Mexican university and hospitals were founded. A way also to mark distance from the speech of the president of his country, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
After the ceremony, he participated in a meal at the Teatro Real in which he was accompanied by José María Aznar, the Mexican ambassador Quirino Ordaz or his partner at FCC Esther Koplowitz, as well as several of his family members and representatives from the political and business world. There, in front of 250 people, including journalists, he spoke relaxedly about his childhood and about his father of Lebanese origin, founder of the La Estrella de Oriente haberdashery and who died when he was barely 13 years old. He also offered some business advice, which, coming from one of the richest people in the world, is important to him.
In short, the visit has served to get to know better the first shareholder of FCC and Realia, and second of Metrovacesa, whose investments in the country continue to grow. It will soon raise its stake in FCC to above 80%, by virtue of the takeover bid for its own shares launched by the company. In Metrovacesa he intends to join the board of directors after exceeding 21% and, apart from construction and brick, he has just launched a project valued at almost 300 million euros to convert the old cement factory in Vallcarca, into Sitges, in a technological campus oriented to cinema, audiovisuals and video games. Since 2012, he has been the owner of the Real Oviedo soccer team.
And what were the advice that Slim offered to businessmen at the Teatro Real? The first: “The role of the businessman is to act as temporary administrator of wealth.” The second: “All times are good for those who know how to work.” The third: “The businessman must reinvest permanently. It is often necessary to distribute dividends, but the money that leaves a company evaporates.”
He also took the opportunity to talk about the “new civilization of services.” We must not fall into pessimism because “the monolithic power of the agrarian era” has been left behind and what society and the economy ask now is to “remove people from ignorance and illiteracy” to make them “educated and skilled.” ”. We are, as he says, in “a more generous world.”
He is also concerned about the relationship between the United States and China, but sees two great opportunities: industrial relocation will give a great boost to Mexico as a local supplier to its northern neighbor and, secondly, China has a middle class of 800 million. people, the largest in the world, into whom sooner or later business's teeth may sink.
