Strange bedfellows: Mexican millionaire Carlos Slim and The New York Times

(Courtesy of Scott Wilbur. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.)


El Universal has announced that Mexican businessman Carlos Slim has acquired 6.4 per cent of Class A actions of The New York Times.The newspaper adds that the move makes Slim the third largest holder behind the Sulzberger family.

Slim's intentions in this deal are not clear, according to the same paper. Slim has declared his investment follows strictly financial reasons and that this is not part of a strategic maneuver to influence the media across the Mexican border. He declined to state how much he paid for his share of NYT actions or if he has any plans to increase his holdings.

Slim owns TELMEX, the national telephone company in Mexico, a quasi-monopoly sold by the state in a questionable privatization dealing during the Carlos Salinas administration. The company has since profited from the lack of competition. Currently, Mexicans pay some of the highest telephone and mobile rates while Slim has become the second richest person in the world.

Unlike U.S. billionaires Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, Slim has not been particularly keen to share his wealth through grand scale philanthropic efforts. Neither has he attached himself to any progressive causes in the Mexican political landscape. On the contrary, he has been active in defending the de facto and legal privileges that allow his company to thrive in one of the most unequal countries in the hemisphere. Slim's political views in Mexico would mostly resemble those of many conservatives in the United States. Up until now he has made clear his support to a Mexican state strong enough to protect his vested interests but, at the same time, weak in responding to the demands of the majority.