Carlos Slim to hook Mexico up with 'millions' of laptops
By Darren Murph 
posted August 3rd 2007 1:01PM
posted August 3rd 2007 1:01PM
Carlos Slim, who is (debatably) the richest man on the face of the planet, has recently pledged to do some good with all that fundage, and we'd say that donating "250,000 low-cost laptops to children by the end of the year and as many as one million in 2008" is a fine start. Noting "digital education" as the key for turning much of Mexico around, he is aiming to "initially put the laptops in libraries and schools" and hand them out to students afterwards. Moreover, he suggested that his company (Telmex) would be there to help set up wireless networks for the machines to connect to, and as if these plans were enormous enough, he's also looking to establish "early stimulation" preschools within four years to give "poor children training at a young age in math, language, and computers."[Via Wired]
lol at carlos. if it wasnt for mexicos poor regulation of business and monopolies, then he wouldnt be half the man he is.
but luckily he will get his money back since his company will be installing all the wifi for the laptops
I agree this is about a step up from a drug dealer "giving back" to a community which they've exploited.
It doesn't seem like this guy was concerned much with philanthropy until he started getting more attention for his newly acquired title. I say lets hold off on the praise and see where he goes from here, and if he even makes good on his pledge.
You know what? I'm 100% Mexican, and I'm proud of it. No freaking half breed Mexican American or some freaking cholo. You know why? Because unlike our neighbor to the north, we are truly a free country and truly free people. We do what we want, when we want, however we want. Tell me of someone in the states that can say that. That said. If Mr. Slim didn't have a telecomms monopoly, some freaking American company would. So its ok to have companies the size of Grupo Modelo, Televisa and of course Grupo CARSO in a country that over 50% of its population is poor. Yeah they fend off external companies. Oh and by the way we don't mind Europe or Asia. So yeah, I'm freaking ok with Mr. Slim having 8% of our GDP. Yeah I'm ok with, Mr. Slim not allowing outside competition into the country.
If all is as it seems, this man is a serious philanthropist. I mean, he doesn't just give to a fund, he is literally trying to bring up the bottom line in his country. Well done, mr. Slim.
in my book he doesnt count. the only reason he is rich is because of a corrupt government selling all the phone assets making it a monopoly.
Bill>Carlos since bill worked to build his company, carlos just cheated teh mexican people.
but unless Carlos pays for teh wifi too, then he fails at life.
"If all is as it seems" Indeed. Well, thanks much Carlos for this new initiative. I was pretty rough on you in this previous post (http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/03/carlos-slim-edges-out-bill-fatty-fat-fat-gates-as-worlds-rich/). This is a step in the right direction, but please remember a mortal man is as large as his deeds, a "HUMAN IMMORTAL" however is as large as how he impacts the world. Please do better!
this guy is pretty hardcore with charity. thumbs up.
I just love that a chubby guy is named 'slim.'
To quote the Bloodhound Gang: "I'm not black like Barry White no I am white like Frank Black is"
for some one with over 60 billion dollars this is barely an effort. 250K low cost laptops? pfft..
First off, there's a big difference between what someone's worth and how much money they've got in the bank.
Second, it's probably a bad idea to try to fix a big problem by blowing a lot of money in one go. Rather, you spend some and then evaluate the results to see if you should spend more that way or to try a different way.
Pr0n for everyone!
I can just see it now:
"Hello friend!
I was just gotten $10,000,000 Dollers US from the owner of my tortillia factory he needs to leave the country before they kill him and his family. Can you help us? You can deposit this sum in your bank, keep $250,000US (he is not greedy), send us the rest....."
Look out, Nigeria! Mexico is gunning for your jobs.....
Wow how about you throw in some steriotypes and a little racism while you're at it? I know quite a few Mexicans and none of them have tried to scam me.
Next year be sure to look for Nigeria-like scam emails from Mexico. That’s what happens when you put technology in the hands of an economically depressed nation with corrupt governments. The people use the technology to make an easy, fast buck and the government doesn’t care as long as there is money coming into the country.
And then your the fuking idiots who send the money to them !!!!
Thats just what we need, more third world online scammers & spammers. The mexican govt doesnt care how money gets into the country. The mexican govt opposes all US laws and walls that would slow down or stop their people from illegally entering the US and sending money back to mexico. With all those billions why doesnt Slim build some industry in his country and give jobs to his people so they would have a reason to stay in their own country.
Dude, not just because we are economically depressed means we are going to go on a scamming rampage. Mexico has cyber cafes everywhere and everyone in my family has an email address, so technology is within reach for a lot of people in most communities. I think you have a distorted view of Mexico if you think it doesn't have laws in place against technology-related crimes, and you definitely are underestimating the fact that the majority of Mexican people strive towards getting an honest job not matter how hard it might be as long as it pays enough to provide for their families. The government is corrupt, sure, but what government isn't? And just to be clear, I don't like Carlos Slim, not in the least, but I support the idea of promoting technology and education in Mexico.
It is so sad to see how many stupid idiots who have no idea what the rest of the world is outside their mom's basements not to mention their country.
Sorry but it makes me really anger.
Carlos Slim owns the communication infratructure. So giving laptops would mean all those new users would need to buy his services to get any good use out of them. Sounds like he can get credit for helping others and still reap the rewards on the backend.
This guy is probably gunning for the Mexican presidency.
@ Encore:
he did not cheat on anyone, he is just as hardworking, Telmex, Telcel, and Prodigy, are by far, the greatest communications services I have had, and I live in Mexico, so I would now.
I travel to the US quite often, but seriously, you people have to stop thinking of Mexico as poor and defensless, you people are not the protectors of the world, you have enough internal problems as it is, for you to go around and say, oh yes, that bastard, he stals from the poor, actually, he cant do that, since poor people the last time I checked dont own phones, nor DSL. And poor people live in the south, not in the north, nor in the center, they mainly live in the south still influenced by their religions or whatever it is that they are influenced by.
The fact is that we dont wear hats, we dont go around in donkeys, I mean, we did invent color TV, or something like that, I dont remember very well, but the whole point is, stop saying he is a thief.
Guillermo Camarena, Mexican national, first patented color TV in 1940 but it has been proven the patent contains a method and parts consistent with John Logie Baird's 1939 England demonstration of color TV and RCAs color TV demonstrations in 1940. Just because Guillermo beat them to patent the process doesn’t mean he invented it. John Logie Baird invented the process in 1939 that Guillermo Camarena patented in 1940. But the very first invention of color TV was by Bell labs in 1929 although it was never used to produce broadcasts or used in mass production of TV sets.
To think a whole country is proud of a guy that didnt really invent color TV.
"And poor people live in the south, not in the north, nor in the center, they mainly live in the south still influenced by their religions or whatever it is that they are influenced by"
Apperantly you have never been to TJ or any of the border states, last time I checked that was in the north or Mexico. If what you meant to say is "And poor people live in the south OF THE USA, not in the north (CANADA), nor in the center (USA)" then you are probably correct.
@ STEPHEN: lol @ basing your assumptions on TJ of all places.
not really, why do kids want WiFi for? they will only use it for porn, or MySpace, or I dont know, I can assure you they wont be reading engadget or learning off wikipedia.
The whole point for a computer for this kinds of people is for them to be able to work with stuff such as office, and get a little involved in technology.
I agree w/Joe; setting up a charitable effort is great, but it's a little dubious when the results of your charity net you a tax break, the appearance of you being the 'good guy' because you're so publically being charitable, and/or creating a future revenue stream and creating more customers down the line. I'm sure he means well, and I'm sure that the other tax shelter 'charitable foundations' set up by other wealthy persons mean well too (and even if they didn't, they do good anyways). But the overly public nature of these types of donations (there are lots of very wealthy people that don't need to draw attention to themselves, and donate anonymously) coupled with the future benefits for them directly, makes me think they shouldn't be given the warm fuzzy kudos on this.
Carlos Slim is first generation Mexican - both his parents are Lebanese.
I wonder if he will be giving back to Lebanon as well? or if he feels like Mexico is the place to invest, I mean donate, because of his teleco business.
Bill Gates has Carlos beat by far when it comes to donating money. The Bill and Malinda Gates foundation has raised Billions of dollars.
^^ agree. When Gates gives computers he gives the software and pays for connections. Gates doesnt give a computer and charge for Microsoft products. Lets see if Slim does the same thing or if he makes money from people needing to connect using his telco companies.
I agree with Jose: With all those billions why doesnt Slim build some industry in his country and give jobs to his people so they would have a reason to stay in their own country.
Miguel, If you read and investigate a little you will know that Carlos Slim owns the CARSO GROUP, Wich include Telmex, the largest landline provider in Mexico. TELCEL, The largest cellphone provider in Mexico by far. Sanborns, Bookstore, restaurant and novelty stores. STAR MEDICA, Hospitals. SEARS in Mexico... and a lot of more companies in Mexico. And he also gives some jobs to the Americans in his companies like, SAKS FIFTH AVE, SEARS, JC Penney, CompUSA, Tracfone... Ohh and by the way he Owns AMERICA MOVIL the fifth largest cellphone provider in the world. So he already has a lot of companys giving jobs not only to Mexicans, also Gringos.
Slim IS building industry in our country and he is giving jobs. Besides Telmex, he also owns the largest mobile-phone operator in Latin America and the Mexican operation of SEARS; he is investing in the oil industry, he is the 2nd largest share holder of televisa, and the list can go on and on. BUT THAT IS NOT THE POINT. The problem with him is that much of his richness has come with lots (and I mean enormous) of help from the Mexican government. An example of this is the monopoly power that the government is still granting to Telmex--phone calls in Mexico are much more expensive when compared to the OECD average. And now he is talking about "philanthropy"? Come on! He is just returning a few bucks from what he has been taking away from consumers and contributors.
Anyway, much of the problem has to do with our institutions. The people that make policies are very close (when not the same) to the people with economic power. Of course, they favor their friends. And yes, we are still a developing country because poverty is a reality--yes, specially in the south, but prevails everywhere--as well as inequality (Ricardo, qbix and myself have the luck of living on the nice side of the poverty line).
Im not saying this would happen just because its in Mexico. It happens in every country where these programs have been tested. Thats why the OLPC group spends so much time trying to figure out how to keep these laptops from being used for any other purpose than education. Giving a computer with no restrictions to an underdeveloped community usually leads to a great deal of those computers being used for criminal activities. OLPC is the only one that has almost found a way to stop that. Many of Slims computers will just be another tool for desperate people and criminals. It doesn't matter what third world country you drop the computers. It happens every time.
Carlos Slim is just rich because he has been the petty errand-boy of Carlos Salinas de Gortari- a Mexican ex-president who accrued billions of dollars while in office, money that came from every Mexican citizen's taxes- and Slim is laundering that money. Mexico is a country of poor people, and yet we have the richest man of the world. It is f***ing obvious that Slim is a corrupt a**hole and some of the posters here are actually buying into his cleansing new image of philantropy.
what are you basing this on? im not defending slim or anything, i just hate half assed opinions.
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It's based on the fact that Slim is a friend of an ex-president that under the water accumulated a fortune of millions of dollars during his presidency, but needed someone to do his laundering so that's where Carlos Slim came in. But, there's also no denying that his company is very successful, mainly due to the lack of competitors, which is also thanks to black mailing and corruption. So although I have no hard proof but the "useless" anecdotes of people that have been close to Slim and my own experience with what a corrupt government can do. I am sure that Slim is not doing anything legal to earn himself all that money.
For those who think Mexico's got no law... Since 1917 or so the 28th article of the Mexican Constitution says it is illegal to have a monopoly; it is an individual garantee or human right. So the law is there... But the the Federal Comission for Competence has just acquired power to fight any monopoly and has just said that it is aiming to telecom.. which means TELMEX and TELCEL, two of the greatest Slim's enterprises... So don't be surprised to see in the upcoming month or years that Slim's wealth will seriously diminish...
I just read the news form a mexican newspaper ans Slim is planing to open 100 pre-school centers (3 milloins dollars each) to estimulate math logics, and digital education, they will have classrooms, auditoriums, computers and wifi, (i suppose for the OLPC's), in Mexico. Also he is aiming for a million laptops but for all LatinAmerica in 2008...
Slim has robbed Mexicans for his high costs for years, and he is paying bakc a little... But all these donation will be tax deductible... so no real philanthopy...
wait wait, is it irony that Carlos Slim is fat?
I WILL MAKE MUCHO DINERO(Going for the trillion mark!) WITH MY SUPER BOT NET OF MEXICAN PEOPLE. BWAHAHAHA!
Carlos "Big Pesos" Slim
Even if he has "ulterior motives"...as long as people are really benefiting...then it's all good.
The guy who paid his employees salaries even after company burnt down (for like 6mos?)...these CEOs really get a "tip o' the pen" from me.
I'm a kid reading engadget. And I regularly use wikipedia.
Learn something about the people you're talking about.
This guy is a joke and first off he is by far not the richest man in the world.....there are people who aren't listed in forbes who are worth so much they can't be listed, they're priceless!! Bill gates is a joke too he made money by stealing other peoples ideas, but that's how you have to be though cause nobody gets rich by being honest and hardworking...you have to be cut throat and cheat and steal to be at the top!!
TJ is an absolute disgrace to the rest of Mexico, don't think you know all about Mexico just because you've visited that drug-infested shithole.
i cant believe how many ignoramus people there are on here, have ANY of you been to Hermosillo SOnora Mexico? Zapopan Jalisco Mexico? i suggest you visit these cities and then tell me that Mexico is poor and filthy. on basically EVERY block there is theres usually a cybercafe.
some of you SHOULD really leave your basments and travel and see the rest of the world. man, why do some people insist on believing that Mexico is a poor and dirty country? unpropitious.
I've been to both places and while there are facets of 1st world countries there overall the country is in a 3rd world status. Which means it's still developing.
Fact is if Mexico wasn't attached to the US's ass it would be in the same state as all of the other Central and South American countries. Get over yourself!
please, because the Us really does help Mexico. the only thing the us likes to do is stick there nose into EVERY countries affairs. the only reason that Mexico is like that is because of the corrupt government, if they actually gave money to the people to repair homes, streets and ecological issues, it wouldn't be so. unlike other countries that are REALLY in 3rd world status, there government most of the time is poor. Mexico's obviously isn't. they need a better, new president, which i think the new one that they got is quite good since he's cutting his salary and the other government officials salary really low to what they should actually be getting paid. ive gone to Mexico with family, the house aren't what they are like here in the Us, neither are most of the streets, but mostly everyone in the town i went to the young adults, teens, little kids have an education, quite big amounts of food available, cheap prices on that, overall a somewhat safe environment, i didn't see anyone starving, or thin as twigs or really dirty how most of the people on this topic are stereotyping them as. especially people like you that don't have a clue what is even going on. I'm Mexican and do get quite offended when i see these kinds of posts that i read on here stating that the Mexican people like to scam. You dont see me stereotyping American's as racists. because i know its not true, there are only a few of them that really do think that every other race is below them.
I totally agree. The only reason people think Mexico is all poor and dirty is because they live in a little bubble, which is a magic world where they tell you everything you have to do and not do. Warning signs exist even down to "Careful coffee is hot". Cars warn you to use your seat belt and won't stop bugging you until you do(unlike European cars). Where people can sue a company because of their own stupidity of not being careful and knowing that COFFEE IS SERVED HOT! (in reference to the McDonald incident and lawsuit about 10 years ago). Where people think that outside this bubble everything is horrible. That Europeans have bad teeth and that all of us Mexicans wear "Sombreros", sandals and sit next to a cactus tree. That "Mexicans" are all peasants, poor a very ugly, not knowing that in fact its our servants and our maids (our lowest class Mexicans) that they are actually dealing with. In this bubble people think that fun in Mexico is Cancun, when in fact Cancun is just a version of Miami. That's why Europeans dislike this bubble and prefer Mexico. They call themselves free, but are they? Their government tells them what to see, hear, feel and think. Their own goverment laughs at them by telling them about some fantasy weapons of mass destruction and turning their bubble the laughing stock of the planet. Where they think that Mexico is Central America when in fact it's part of North America. Where they think that Costa Ricans, Brazilians, Mexicans, Argentinians, Chileans and Cubans are all the same people. Where they don't know their green currency isn't the strongest in the planet anymore no matter how hard they try or how many countries they wage war on. They think football is a game where you carry the ball with your hands. They don't know that it is actually a sport that originated in throughout Europe, particularly in England. That you use your feet, hence the name FOOTball (futbol in spanish). They also think that basketball, Gridiron("American Football"), and baseball are the most popular sports in the planet. Guess what? It's futbol (football). In this little bubble people don't think to wander far from it because their minds have been so focused on how great they think they are, that they actually haven't realized that there is an entire planet outside of it. America actually comes from Amerigo Vespucci an Italian. Italian has its roots in Latin. Spain has its paella and flamenco and France her champagne and baguettes. Italy isn't only food, Sicily and mobsters. Thailand has Bangkok, Phuket, Tak and Saraburi. Argentina has Tango and meat. Mexico isn't only Cancun and Tequila. There's Chile, Budapest, Holland, Colombia, Germany, Peru, England, Greece, Portugal, Brazil, South Africa, Venezuela, Australia, Guatemala, Sweden, Nigeria, Japan, Paraguay, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, Egypt, Cuba, Russia, Bolivia, India, Ecuador, Switzerland, Belgium, Indonesia, Bulgaria,etc... Each country has its ups and downs and are beautiful in their own way. No American will ever grasp that or get know Mexico or any other country like the rest of us (the planet) does.
The problem in Mexico isn't the government. It's people like you. I'm Mexican and I work my ass for a living. If you want something get off your a.s.s and get it. Blame the freaking government all the time. I don't have money!!!! The government this! The government that! F.U. Expecting the government to solve our problems is the way to do things. If you got off your ass worked and maybe just maybe tried saving a little. Things would definitely be different. There isn't a lack of money in Mexico, we are a very wealthy country in so many ways. What there is a lack of is people that have push and drive. People like you.
The laptops probably came from all the CompUSAs he closed in the USA. Your a bastard Carlos Slim!