Carlos Slim (presumably) can't stop losing billions
Sunday night at Fenway Park, as the Boston Red Sox wrestled first place in the AL East from the New York Yankees, sat Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man.
Plopped in Sox owner John Henry’s private box in a white golf shirt, he looked every bit like a man worth nearly $25 billion more than Warren Buffett should: tanned, relaxed, enjoying the finer, but still modest, points of American culture.
Of course, for Slim, with such a vast fortune – estimated at $74 billion earlier this year by Forbes – comes wild fluctuations in worth.
Like, losing $8 billion, and likely more, in the span of about a week.
Yes, if you haven’t heard by now, Slim, the Mexican telecom giant, had a rough go last week, shedding about $8 billion in personal net worth in a window of just four days.
According to Bloomberg News, the billionaire’s portfolio had dipped by about 11 per cent over the period July 29-August 4, dropping his net worth to the $63 billion range.
That figure was ahead of Friday, but more importantly, ahead of Monday, a veritable blood bath in the stock market.
Word hasn’t come down yet just what Slim may have lost yesterday, when the S&P 500 freefell a whopping six per cent in value after Standard & Poor officially told the world the U.S. can’t be trusted to pay its damn bills.
But let’s have a little fun with the stock chart of America Movil SAB, the biggest wireless carrier in the Americas and Slim’s largest asset, shall we?
By Bloomberg’s calculations, Slim’s fortune stood at $63 billion as of Friday morning. If we extrapolate all of Slim’s wealth in America Movil stock (I know, it’s not all tied up there, but still), perhaps we can gauge a bit of what he may have lost in the days since.
As of Thursday’s close, American Movil sold for about $1.29 per share. As of Monday’s close, that same price had shot down to $1.09, or a dip of about 16 per cent.
What’s a 16 per cent hack out of $63 billion? A little over $10 billion, bringing Slim’s hypothetical fortune down to a puny $52.92 billion.
Of course, these figures are worthless (and mostly inaccurate, we’d imagine) but it’s a remarkable look at how the stakes are different for the super rich. The ebbs are huge, yes, but the losses are insufferable.
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: Khrum | Aug 10, 2021 2:11:08 AM
WOOOT about time we see some of those rich losing big.
Hell I dont feel bad at all.
What is he going to do whit that money getting burried with him when he dies?
Let them all lose big and see how they like it.
They will never lose enough for my liking.
Posted by: Troy Jollimore | Aug 10, 2021 8:58:15 AM
You're missing the point, Khrum. Losing $1 Billion to this guy is like giving a Loonie to a homeless person is to you. By the time we're standing in the unemployment lines, begging for food to feed our families, guys like him may have had to sell off one of their yachts to keep their portfolios up.
That's why they're so disconnected from the issues facing the disappearing 'Middle Class'.
Posted by: Mike | Aug 10, 2021 12:20:56 PM
Keep in mind, what we're talking about here is only a paper loss. Unless he actually sells those devalued shares at the new lower price, the "loss" isn't actually realized. In fact, even if he sold some and took a loss, he could carry forward the capital loss into future years to offset the taxes on any capital gains realized.
Posted by: 57charlie | Aug 10, 2021 12:44:41 PM
This is a story?.......If this writer had any cajones he'd be writing about the ineptitude of the American politicians, the jackoffs on Wall Street and the bankers who have lost untold billions, if not trillions of taxpayers dollars, as well as being the root cause of the world's current economic state.
Posted by: David | Aug 10, 2021 12:48:23 PM
Its Ironic, we are looking at some one's wealth. While we are loosing our shirts. Poor man from Lebanon, so many of them all over the world . Doing quite well, and we feel sorry for the situation Lebanon is in. Its a good one, cry the blues and go to countries where we don't have to many smart ones and make a fortune. This type of money does not come just with a smile. I wonder how and what he had to do to get all this in a country where so many poor live and bad things are going on. And this guy is pretending to be a rags to riches story.
Posted by: Ray Larder | Aug 10, 2021 1:18:35 PM
I'm with David, how much does Carlos Slim care about Mexico and it's people ? And how much does Carlos Slim care about his 73, 62, 53 billion dollars ?
Let's say he keeps $10,000,000,000, then spends $40,000,000,000 on housing for the Mexican people, think of the work he could create !
Posted by: Dave | Aug 10, 2021 3:54:07 PM
Hahaha...this is almost non-information. As posted earlier, it's a paper loss only. His life style didn't change one cent! It's numbers on an accounting report only! I don't think there will be a lemonade stand out in front of one of his mansions anytime soon!
Posted by: DashingDave | Aug 10, 2021 5:21:31 PM
I'm amazed at how critical most comments are about the evaporated 24 billion. Do you all think it's good that wealth can so quickly disappear like this? Don't you realize that your pension plans and life nsurance companies are taking huge hits as well. What will you think when your pension and life insurance payments are cut because of of the markets tanking?
This is so typically Canadian. There is a general feeling that the rich are selfish fools and deserve nothing but contempt. I wonder who the fools really are sometimes.
Posted by: George | Aug 10, 2021 6:09:03 PM
Knowing Warren Buffett, he probably bought more at the low of the market and is making a killing on the recovery.
Posted by: cathy | Aug 10, 2021 6:23:40 PM
@david what the hell r u babbling about??? carlos didnt make his fortune in lebanon and yes it is a rags to riches story...
Posted by: paul | Aug 10, 2021 6:27:04 PM
Even the middle-class had lost some money on the stock crash, since at least 1 in 3 of you carry an RRSP. Which means, many of you have lost thousands on your portfolio, not such a good image even if you're super rich. It hurt us all (those who count on that for their daily struggle in retirement) but it is a sign to come!
Posted by: Carlos Slim | Aug 10, 2021 11:18:03 PM
LOL, your all so foolish... i still have over $64 billion . to save money i will have to cut back few hour on my multiple privat jets i got burning gas while in idle on the tarmac,just incase me or my friends need a place to go..its a sacrafice, but in these tough times sometime you need to cut back a little more then usual.