jude zelime: September 2007

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

I recently read a Wall Street Journal article on Carlos Slim, a Mexican billionaire who is currently the World’s Richest Man. Controlling over 200 companies in multiple industries, Slim has earned $27 million every day for the past 2 years.

His fortune also makes up a staggering 7% of Mexico’s yearly economic output.

How did he amass this huge amount of wealth? Monopolies. Controlling distribution and pricing for essential products with consistent and ever increasing demand.

His golden egg is of course, telecommunications. Telmex, his company controls 90% of the Mexican landline telephone market .

Article on Zhang Yin

Make way for the Big Momma of the Billionaires’ Club,” says the Daily Express. The Big Momma in question is Zhang Yin, a 49-year-old paper recycler who has just emerged not only as the richest entrepreneur in China, but also as the wealthiest self-made woman in the world. According to the Hurun Report rich list, Zhang, despite being almost unknown in the wider world, has suddenly arrived at the top of the list with a net worth of $3.4bn. Many of China’s new entrepreneurs keep a low profile, but Zhang is in a class of her own when it comes to elusiveness. “Even her name is the subject of some contention” – she’s known to many as Cheung Yan. Short-haired, simply dressed and slightly stocky, she was ranked 36th on last year’s list, with her leap in fortune being down to the public listing of her firm, Nine Dragons Paper, in Hong Kong in March.

Article on Ratan Tata

Ratan Tata lives alone with two German shepherds in a modest apartment a floor below his stepmother in central Mumbai, formerly called Bombay. The 69-year-old still goes to the office every day and, though he owns a collection of Western luxury cars and has a pilot's license, shuns ostentation. Tata has a reputation to defend as a living legend in the business world, shrouded in an aura of humility that borders on self-denial.