CARLOS SLIM, CHAIRMAN, TELMEX; MEXICO CITY

MEXICO'S RICHEST MAN IS TAKING ON AMERICA'S GIANTS

In 1996 Carlos Slim, 57, prepared to survive the onslaught of foreign telecommunications competition in Mexico. This year many of those invaders, especially from the U.S., may learn whether they can survive Carlos Slim.

The biggest shareholder as well as chairman of Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex), Mexico's no-longer-monopoly telephone company, Slim is planning to challenge American giants like AT&T; and MCI on their home turf in 1997. The stakes: a bigger share in the $2.5 billion U.S.-Mexico long-distance market. "Our focus is toward Hispanic users in the U.S.," he says. The notion of taking on mammoth American firms is in keeping...

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