grader, he might have learned a whole lot more about history by ditching class. why would anyone buy such a book in the first place? well, one school official told cnn they were about 17 bucks cheaper than the alternative. saving virginia schools money but landing them on the ridiculist. that does it for this edition of >> larry: tonight, jon bon jovi, tonight, carlos slim. >> i think that anything that frivolous. he tells us how he fears for his safety.

believe it or not, he lives a lot like the rest of us. we will show you a humble, unassuming tycoon. the extraordinary carlos slim on ""larry king live."" it is an honor to welcome to ""larry king live"" carlos slim. we honored to welcome him in our studios. >> how does it feel when you were ranked number one? >> thank you very much for your invitation, larry. >> it's important how you operate your company. and the part of the public is investigating in the company.

>> larry: so it was not a particular honor? >> no, no. it was not the championship or a confidence. that's in the other sectors, not trying to have a record set in this issue. >> larry: when you top the annual richest list back in march, they listed your net worth at $53.5 billion. is that about right? >> i don't really care about the evaluation. what they do is know that the chair of the companies that we have, and that we are managing, and it has to be marketplace. the market price changes every day, all the time, and we have a lot of liquidity, and you cannot stay making balance sheets of what is happening. what you are taking care is about the operation of the

business, the developing of the business, and the technology you are using, and the segments that you are in, and how you are -- how are you managing it. >> larry: how many companies are you involved with? >> the main companies are the thing, and then each company can have many other subsidy airies. we are a national company, and that means full service of financing, banking and insurance, and i have 45 years where i founded the company. it was three or four days ago where it was 45 years. we are in communications in all of latin america and in the united states. in the u.s., we also have an operation.

and then we have another holding, another industrial sector. >> larry: how do you stay on top of that? >> how can you manage and be on top of the things you do? i think that when you are involved in a business, first of all, you need to know the business. and then after that, you know the business and you -- the numbers tell you what is happening. you can read with the numbers if things are going well or not going well. you can look at the operation of your competitors, and you look at the references, and trying to achieve the best reference internationally. you are following the business not necessarily going to the different industry, but just going to the market to see what

is happening. what people are thinking. you can see with the numbers, many things. the numbers talk to you. >> larry: were you always good with numbers? >> yes. some people are very good with letters, and others have numbers that you can manage numbers in different ways, and then you read the numbers and you understand what is happening in the companies. >> larry: it's estimated that you and your family control more than 200 companies, and you are one of mexico's largest private employers, and you are in control of so many things. do you feel, carlos, as i have gotten to know you, do you feel enormous responsibility? >> yes, i think that anything that has privilege has a responsibility. and all people that is clear about his responsibility, also has a compromise.

it's compromise, and responsibility for not only for me and my family, but also the management team should be -- should have the responsibility to know the importance of what we are doing, and that at the end of the day, we go out and are temporarily managing the wealth, and we don't take anything when we pass away. >> larry: how many people work for you? >> well, i think that now, which would be around 250,000. >> larry: all over? >> in america. in mexico and america. >> larry: how did it all start? >> when i was very young, maybe 12 years, i began to make investments. >> larry: 12 years old? >> yes.

and first i opened a checking account. i looked, and it was nothing for real, and then i bought some bonds. it was a bond, and understand when i bought this bond, i think it was 10% in ten years, and then i understand compound interest in the banks, and then at 13 or something like that, i bought stocks. i followed investment. and my father, he begin to make us -- have the money. in mexico, we save. that means that you have money for the week to spend. >> larry: allowance? >> allowance. and he had us to have income. and my family used to have money when i was born, and we had a big house, and we have all -- my father worked very hard for 1920, and he was already the middleman. >> larry: you were born into wealth? >> yes.

>> larry: you were born into wealth? >> yes. >> larry: you took it way into that? >> yes. >> larry: we'll be back with the richest man in the world. don't go away. lelelelelele anno] many people don't understand

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>> larry: carlos slim owns one of the oldest hotels in mexico. here is a tour of that hotel. ♪ ♪

>> larry: a little foundation, and then we will get into a lot more of the background. the empire is in the telecommunications, telmex. and we'll get into that later. and then one of the largest companies in all of latin american, and owns mexico's major retail out let and mexican chain. and then insurance companies, and bottling company, and cigarette manufacturer, and much real estate and on and on and on. are you always looking to acquire? >> no. some of the companies you are talking about were in '65. we are not in the bottling business anymore. and we sold the tobacco

business, also. we were partners. and then we are concentrating because during these 45 years, because of the circumstances we were involved, and then we were focusing a little more in what we think were the more important implementations in business and management, and we got out of the line that we were trying to be involved, because there was a crisis in mexico. and that meant nobody was investing. we were investing in paper and tires for cars, and we investing in in auto parts. and then we are focusing on the operation, the tile business, and then we are focusing on -- like i was telling in the telecommunications, and financing and mining, and retail.

operation, the tile business, and then we are focusing on -- like i was telling in the telecommunications, and financing and mining, and retail. >> larry: do you have a favorite? >> that's a good question. >> larry: that's why i asked it. >> ha. well, i like having something to look at. that's my work. today my work has a target in mainly only foundations that are my biggest challenge. in this time of my life, my challenge is using the foundations and some of the efforts of the companies try to make changes in countries and in america, and by the perfect business orientation, i am not focusing on something in real estate developments, but mainly mining, and the other areas of financing and

telecommunications, i follow what is happening but i am not in the world, and i am not in the operation, and not following the day-to-day things. >> larry: did your father get to see your success? >> no. my father passed away when i was 13 years old. i was very young. he already know that i make investment. he know what i was doing. he was very happy with this. and i also find -- he opened a store to make us learn. his first company was opened in 1911. it was closed, i think, by circumstances in august of '29. he closed the business in august of '29. it was not because of the depression.

i think he already know it was coming. i don't know why he closed the business in '29. i was born in 1940. and then he opened something to try and teach us. >> larry: how many of there were you? >> excuse me? >> larry: how many brothers and sisters. >> there used to be six, three boys and three girls, and i was the fifth. now only a brother and me. i also have six children. three boys and three girls. >> larry: do you raise your children the way your father was raising you? >> yes. >> larry: still ahead, we will take you inside carlos slim's home. don't go away. th scope freshnes. ♪ new fixodent plus scope ingredients.

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>> larry: carlos clim, the richest man in the world. his father immigrated, right? >> yes. i don't know where the name is coming from, but it's the name of my father, my grandfather and great grandfather, and before that i don't know. >> larry: did your father mary a mexican girl? >> my mother lived in mexico,

but was lebanese. and it was the coincidence that he arrived in 1902. >> larry: was there early in life a big event that happened to you, that turned you from a millionaire to billionaire? was there a major occurrence? >> i think work and investments. >> larry: was there early in life a big event that happened to you, that turned you from a millionaire to billionaire? was there a major occurrence? >> i think work and investments. my father used to say that the money that gets out of a company, it evaporates. that means that what he was thinking, investment, and bring business, and bring business. that's one of the things we do. other things we do in the good times we maintain, and when it's profitable, we don't get crazy,

and making fancy things. then we used to have -- we don't have corporate offices now. we used to have them in the factories. the officers were in the factories, not in another corporate building. and i think that's the way it happened. and the big things, in 1982, i wrestled with things through the years. i can buy many things that were crazy, because everybody was selling. it was a very difficult year. we were in the external debt crisis came, and then also you remember the interest rate went to 21%, the prime rate, and inflation was ridiculous, and the rates were so high that everybody with a small debt had problems.

>> larry: what happened to you? >> no, to the country. to our country that had a big debt. and then we all went into the depression. the west was living and nationalizing the system, and the western was in a great crisis. >> larry: what is the hardest thing for somebody who has everything is to not give your children everything? >> when you say everything, you are talking about material things? >> larry: the boy comes home and he sees wealth, and the boy says, papa, give me $1,000. >> if a little boy comes to us for $1,000, you don't educate him well. because, no, my children like many things. the three children sleep in the same bed -- not in the same bed,

but in the same room. and my three boys, and also my three girls. >> larry: why? >> because i think they need to be -- they have only 14 months between each other, 15 months. they have a very tight age. and then to live together, not to have his own bed and own bedroom and own everything. to know how to share and know how to organize to go to the bedroom and then when they go with me, they go the three of them, and who will go in the front. and they organize to be one with each other. and to fight and have problems between them, they can discuss it and they have many things indeed, but never nothing important. make them love each other, make

each love each other. because the best friend they can have is each other. >> larry: is it hard not to give to them? >> no, when you are convinced what to do, it's not hard to do that. you know if you are giving them something that is bad for them, bad for his happiness, it's not fair. >> larry: we'll talk about happiness in a minute. the richest man in the world, the extraordinary carlos slim, honored to have him here. don't go away.

>> larry: in january, we will open a museum. here is a sneak peek at what its going to look like. ♪ >> larry: most people think the

♪ >> larry: most people think the richest man in the world lives in a mansion. carlos slim opened the door to his home to our cameras. it may surprise you. >> welcome to mexico. 14 years living here. we have the bedrooms that used to be downstairs, and now they are upstairs. all of my children are now married. and this is where we get together.

and that's interesting, because it's the place to be, and it's so special so you cannot lose yourself here. i enjoy a lot more. the house is not -- the trees, that's what i like about it. >> larry: you lost your wife a while back? >> yes, in '99. 11 years ago. she was going to lose me because i was very sick in '97. >> larry: why do you live so modestly? >> it's not modestly. >> larry: you could have the house ten times that size. >> what would i do? i would lose myself and everybody else there. i prefer the open spaces, and gardens, and trees. when you have a big place, you don't see your family, never.

you don't meet each other. my wife and me tried to have this family live together, i don't know how you say that in english. what for you need a big space? they were surprised my house was not bigger, bigger than this. and my wife's house was bigger than our house, and i don't think that -- i don't have any need to have something bigger. >> larry: what is your goal? to make money? >> it's not the money, the goal. the goal is to make companies grow, develop, and be competitive, and be in different areas, and be very efficient. to have a great human team

inside the companies. look for the human development of the people of the companies. because you can not do anything without human capital. without the human team. and we were talking about how many people were there, and there are the managers that are critical to that. and working in the company and growing to develop and achieve success being in the high level of management, and now the goal is by one side i think that wealth should be used best to create more wealth. the fruit of wealth is income, and it's important to develop the distribution of income. the distribution of income comes mainly by employment and second, by the money that goes to the government like taxes and the governments and the social expenses of the governments. and that's the question that i think is employment, but to have public money coming from the

taxes we pay for health, education, and then other circumstanceses for social support. mainly the nutrition of the mother who is pregnant, and the health and education. and that's very important. at the end of the day, employment is the most important thing. and as much education that you have, you are a better alternative and a better offer to have different jobs. >> larry: you are very involved in the education of people. you give scholarships every year, right? it is hard to see all the poverty in mexico? >> it's hard. but i am convinced all the

poverty in mexico and latino america, it's the opportunity to grow. it's an opportunity for investment, and it's an opportunity for economic activity, and to take out poverty is the best investment any country of people can do, a person can do in anyplace. because poverty used to be an ethical issue, and it used to be social and justice issue, and now it's a economic need. you need to integrade them, to the economy, and to the market. that's very important because we have the potential to grow and vest. >> larry: we'll talk about charity and carlos slim and art and carlos slim after this.

>> larry: we're back with the extraordinary, mr. slim. we only have an hour and would want more. he is an incredible human being. how much do you devote to charity? >> we make it not talking about a budget. well, we say this year we will spend $100 million. we try to find out which problems we need to attack, and

then we put all the money that is necessary. the foundations we have done, and donations, looks like $6 million. with the companies, and sometimes in some programs, and then the people where there are volunteers to work in many things. we don't put the money in the foundation, because the mexican foundations, we make no taxable donation. >> larry: they are not tax donations? >> no. the donations are not taxable like we have done. but when you have the money in the foundation, it can only expand in mexico. they cannot move the money in the foundation outside of mexico.

that's why we have not put all the money there, because we want to do other things in latino, america, maybe. >> larry: other programs? >> yeah, we put in the programs what is necessary. in the surgery, we do surgery around the country, and we begin with 2000, 15 years ago, and now we are doing 120,000. >> larry: surgeries? >> surgeries. we say we will do as much as possible. and that's an association that is a surgery. the government in the health centers, we put the tools, the materials and the expenses to move and travel for the doctors. >> larry: what about art? you are building an extraordinary museum named after your wife that will open at the end of january. were you always a collector? >> not always. my wife was very sensible to

art. she was sensitive to everything, but especially with art. when we go, in the beginning, our honeymoon, we went to europe, and she stayed looking at something, and i said, well, i wanted to participate, too. she was feeling and looking and very deep. and then i bought a collection of mexican art that was important, colonial art, and then after that i began to look in mexico, and there were not museums with the international art, and mainly west, and colonial art and mexican art. and so i began to get art from europe, and it was not very accessible, with the prices that they have now, and i make them looking for the mexicans that cannot travel, they have this kind of art in the country. we have 16 years with the

museum, and now we are opening a new one. >> larry: you have one of the great collections in the world, do you not? >> well, we have a good collection, i think. we have an impressionist, masters, and many things like silver of mexico. it's very. >> larry: diversified? >> diversified. >> larry: we'll be back with carlos slim. what can we say? don't go away.

>> larry: as we discussed, carlos has an impressive art direction. take a look. ♪

♪ >> larry: we're back with carlos slim. he also maintains his childhood home. here's a look inside. >> this is my family home. it has something like 65 years in all, maybe a little more. the ceilings, we never touched it, painting or anything. that's a photo of my father. when he was only 32 years old. and he's the area for living together and for friends. my wife and me prefer smaller houses. we prefer where you stay in your room alone, but when you are out, you are out with the family. that's my wedding a few years ago, like 44 years.

the piano there, i play with that, because you move your feet and plays along. and this table here, my older sisters and four older brothers. i wish to have been there every morning with my children, and sometimes the grandchildren come to our house when they are not going to school. that's important. family and conversation, and living together and getting in touch together often. and it's important. and maybe my wife and me had a bigger house when we were bachelors, sometimes you are looking to find things, and when you are looking to have things, you want something more and more and more, and then i think that's a wrong way to live.

>> larry: that house remains special to you? >> yes. we have this house for many years. my mother passed away in '84. and it feels like it was 65 or 70 years ago. >> larry: you visit it a lot? >> yes, sometimes i make lunch there and sometimes i go there. we make christmas also often there. and, yes, yes, i go there. >> larry: do you need a lot of security with all of what we hear about mexico and violence and drugs? wouldn't you be a target? >> nobody in my family has had problems of that. >> larry: none? >> none of my children and

myself. but we move with security, yes. but we can -- i go to downtown and walk in the streets. >> larry: do you drive a car? >> i ride in the car, yes. and then you go to all the places, and you can do your life near normal. your children go to school, and all the businessmen, most of the businessmen are still living in our country and working in the country with families. >> larry: did your children go to public school? >> no, went to private school. >> larry: you had to do that? >> no, with basic education. i was in private school until high school, and then i go to the national university, and that's a school that is like college for me the best where you not only learn about economic issues but also you learn life. >> larry: carlos slim is known as the engineer, right?

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>> larry: carlos slim is a baseball fan, a long time? >> yes, when i was very young. but when i was a boy, a little boy, there was great baseball in mexico. >> larry: the mexican league? >> yeah, in the '40s there were people from big leagues, and negro leagues playing in mexico because they were not playing in the u.s. and there were great players

that go through mexico. >> larry: you were a great yankee fan? >> yes, can i take off my jacket. >> larry: i have had many thrills in my life, that this is one of them, that you would take off your jacket and wear suspenders. >> i like your look, and i want to make it more near to you. but you were telling me about the yankees. yes. i was raised little when i saw the movie of baby ruth, and then the other of lou gar ikz, and then that was the time where the yankees, and not just great for many years, and this time. >> larry: do you ever want to buy a ball club? >> no, i prefer to enjoy. i think if you buy it, you will

look at it like a business and you will not enjoy. >> larry: yeah, it would become a business. >> yeah, i prefer to enjoy. >> larry: family still the most important thing, right? >> by sure. by far. >> larry: when you have all you need, when you can buy anything you see, what motivates you and keeps you going? you don't ask the price of something? >> yes, sure. doesn't matter if i am not going to buy, you need to be firm. to think that happiness comes because you have many material issues, you have 20 cars or 30 cars, or the last one, and 40 watches, i think that's not

happiness. that's something that you are -- when you are doing that, you have problems. i was saying, a little boy that has a toy and he wants another toy, he will not be happy with toys if you give them toys and toys and toys. the toys will last and they will not play with the toy. that's not the way to see life. but also i think that in a professional area in business, like a businessman, family is not an obstacle, it's a support. when people think that you go for family or for business or for family or to be a doctor, i think they are complimentary and supportive. >> larry: we have the remaining all too few moments with carlos slim following this. larry: we're back with carlos slim and a few minutes left. we know one of your businesses

is tella telecommunications.

larry: we're back with carlos slim and a few minutes left. we know one of your businesses is tella telecommunications. where is it all going? >> that's an interesting question. we moved many years ago from the horse and the steamboat, and before the steamboat -- first to the steamboat and then to the speed of light, and then that was with telecommunications. and the speed of sound with the big fast planes, and that's what changed completely the world. this change came with a lot of technology. and the system of society will be neutralization. when people can get connected

and you can do a lot of things, not only because of telecommunications, but it came together with the development of the computer, and it's for the brains and the head. i think we are living in a great, new society. a very important and generous -- i will say generous society, where the development and the economy is sustained by the welfare of the others. >> larry: where is it all going, though? are you still investing in telecommunications? >> sure, sure. next year we will invest $8 billion. >> larry: in telecommunications? >> yes, in telecommunications. it moves fast. and the good thing, prices are going down. we are proud the mobile and cellular service, we have a

penetration in latin america of 90%. that's great, 90% penetration. and now we need to do that in broadband. >> larry: you owe the new york times quite a bit of money. >> we need to make a difference between news and papers. i think that it will be very important every day to give the news and the contained electronic means, like i was telling about entertainment -- >> larry: but we'll always need papers? >> i shouldn't say yes, because i use paper. for me it's difficult not to. but i think in the future, electronic will grow. not in the future. it's growing. it's growing. and every time it will be here. and a piece of the chair of the paper will be smr