Gold Mine

Oprah Winfrey

2011-10-22T18:31:00.001+02:00

Name: Oprah Winfrey Profession: producer, bussinesswoman and philanthropist
Age: 57 Estimated fortune: US$ 2.7 billion

Nationality: American

Why not talking about celebrities?

Oprah Winfrey already is a legend in the US. Thanks to the success of her talk-show "Oprah", she is the most influential woman in the world, and the richest celebrity of 2011.

Winfrey was born into poverty in Mississippi (1954) and she had a very hard childhood: she was raped at age nine and became pregnant at fourteen. Afterwards, her baby died and she was sent to Tennessee with his father.
While she was still in high school, she started working in radio and then got transferred to the Chicago talk show.

But the beginning of her success arrived when she launched her own production company and became internationally syndicated.
Oprah has revolutionized the tabloid talk show genre, giving to it a more human approach, as since 1990, she has been breaking different taboos and has been trying to become a benefactor to the others.

There are many curious facts about Oprah Winfrey that you might not know:

- Her show airs in over 140 different countries
- In 1985, she co-starred the film "The color purple" by Steven Spielberg and was nominated for an academy award
- In 1998 she created Oprah Angel Network, a charity that raised $80.000.000
- She has co-authored five books and owns a magazine
- In 2006, the Oprah Radio channel was created

There is no doubt that Oprah Winfrey is a self-made woman who created her own media empire starting up with nothing. She made it to the top through old fashion hard work, and a willingness to fight for the rights of women and minorities.

Sources:

www.wikipedia.com
www.forbes.com

Steve Jobs: the spirit of a genie

2011-10-15T17:35:00.000+02:00

Innovation is what distinguishes the leaders from the followers. -Steve Jobs

Today's post could only be dedicated to Steve Jobs, the father of modern technology who died last 5th October at 56 years old.

This American entrepreneur had revolutionary ideas in the field of personal computers, mobile phones,

cinema and music that marked a before and an after for technology.

There is no doubt that Steve Jobs had the spirit of a genie, as he materialized the dreams and ideas he had to offer them to everyone else and make things a little easier.

His career started in the videogames company Atari, after having abandoned higher education. In this period of his life, of which we don't have many details, he converted to budhism and experimented with LSD -what, according to what he said, helped him being more creative-.

In 1976, Apple was created in a garage in California. Their founding members were Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne and Wozniak, that received the economic help of Mike Markkula. After a short time, the "Apple 1", the first computer of the company, was let out.

Around 1978, Jobs decided that he needed more partners and convinced John Sculley, who was working for Pepsi-Cola to join Apple. It was Sculley who, some years later, fired Steve Jobs from his own company. After this, Jobs created Next Computers, an enterprise of computers especially designed for professionals and the famous cinema firm Pixar.

In 1996, Apple announced that it would buy Next and so Steve Jobs would be a part of his first business again. However, it wasn't until 2000 that he became the director again.

From this moment, Apple kept growing, strengthening its basis of aesthetics and functionality, and started to change the vision that people had about technology and information.

Apart from the computers, Apple also designed the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, the iTunes store...

Last August, Jobs had to rennounce to his CEO position, due to a pancreas cancer, and ceded it to Tim Cook. Some hours after this announcement, Apple shares reduced by 5%.

The shares dropped again last week due to the death of Steve Jobs and also to the announcement that the iPhone 4S would be released this year instead of the iPhone 5.

As I write on my MacBook, I realize that it's thanks to Steve Jobs, the man that changed the world with his energy and his intelligence.

If he had been born a hundred, two hundred or three hundred years ago, Jobs would still have stood out, he would have created a different revolution, he would have invented the impossible.

These are things that only a genie can do.

R.I.P Steve Jobs

Carlos Slim Helú

2011-10-01T12:49:00.005+02:00

Do not value money for any more nor any less than its worth; it is a good servant but a bad master. - Alexandre Dumas

Name: Carlos Slim Helú Profession: Business magnate and Philanthropist Nationality: Mexican Estimated fortune: US$ 74 billion
Age: 71

Let's start strong with the biggest fortune of 2011:

Carlos Slim, the chairman of the telecommunication companies “Telmex” and “América Móvil”, has been the richest man of 2007, 2010 and 2011.

In 2007 he became the first Mexican -and the first person from a developing country- to top the List.

In 2008, he was the second-richest person in the world, behind Warren Buffett (an American business magnate, investor and philanthropist).

In 2009, he went down to the third position in the Forbes List, again behind Warren Buffett and Bill Gates too.

In 2010, Slim became the richest man -again- with a US$ 53.5 billion fortune.
In 2011, his fortune rose to US$ 74 billion, so he maintained his top 1 position.

Slim Helú made his fortune buying unprofitable companies and turning them around. He controls many phone consorts and has major investments in retailing, construction, banking, insurance, railroads and mining.

In 1990, he bought Telmex, the Mexican Telephone monopoly and today he is also in control of Telcel, América móvil and the large Mexican financial-industrial conglomerate Grupo Carso.

He is also an investor in The New York times and many TV channels.

It was Slim who came up with the novel idea that helped propel mobile companies growth. Now, he states that “The key is the Internet. The United States is by far the most advanced country in this new digital culture, so we have to be there. The Internet is the heart of this new civilization, and telecommunications are the nervous system, or circulatory system.”

He certainly is right and he has already started to invest in projects related to technology and aims to bring broadband internet connection to everyone.

It is not strange that many people criticize the fact that he is monopolizing the landline telephone market, as Telmex has the control of 90% of it. Many economists think the domination of Carlos Slim in Mexico -where approximately 17% of the population lives in poverty- prevents other small companies from growing and so affects his country negatively.

Interesting facts about Carlos Slim Helú:

- He comes from a Lebanese family.
- The Mexican businessman began in 1995 to create philanthropic foundations such as “Fundación Telmex” and “Fundación Carlos Slim Helú” in order to create health, sports and educational institutions and this way collaborate with president Bill Clinton to help poor people in Latin America.
- He has always practiced financial restraint so he still drives himself to work.

Slim Helú is a very good example of how wealthy people should deal with the large amounts of money they possess. Though he is the richest man in the world, it seems that he hasn't lost his values and that he cares about charity and social aid.

I believe someone can have a lot of money or be rich. It doesn't mean the same: only the latter knows how not to let the lust of money blind him.

Sources:

www.carlosslim.com
www.theweek.com
www.businessweek.com

www.forbes.com

www.nytimes.com
www.wikipedia.com

The golden rule

2011-09-25T13:36:00.002+02:00

"We live by the Golden Rule. Those who have the gold make the rules". - Buzzie Bavasi

Everybody has heard, even just once, that love moves the world. Philosophers, poets and novelists have spent centuries devoted to spreading that inspiring message. I completely agree, without love, friendship and respect, humans would certainly have disappeared a long time ago. But, are these values the only ones that make us move forward? Let me doubt it. What about money? What about power, reputation, prestige and fame?

Even though we humans have a long history of wars and revolutions against the tyrannical domination of those who had the power, we still can't say we are free. Because of the interests of rich governors, businessmen or investors, polluting industries are being created, unfair laws are being established and people are being manipulated. But I believe the effects of power and money are not only negative: there are rich people who have spent their lives working hard to create employment, to diffuse ethical ideals, to bring happiness and wisdom to everyone else. Some for the better and some for the worse, wealthy powerful people have changed the curse of history and are changing our future right now.

I find knowing who the ones that are making our world evolve -in both positive and negative directions- are is quite interesting, as it can help us be more aware of the political, economical and cultural situation of the world we live in.

On my blog I will talk about the richest and most powerful people on the earth: political leaders, businessmen, entrepreneurs, celebrities... I will analyze the keys to their success, comment on their future projects, explain what they spend their money on and try to look for other entertaining facts.

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