He transformed that company (albeit being a monopoly) into a fairly good one. With the excess cash he generated he launched a mobile phone company that is one of the world's largest, and invested in numerous other businesses transforming them from badly performing ones into better businesses.
He was certainly lucky, smart and well connected when he bought Telmex, but all the execution afterwards was not easily handed to him.
Personally i'd love if his companies ran the water distribution or trash collection, he'd probably turn them into better performing and less corrupt businesses.
I think everybody expects so much of him, but he doesn't care, he is wired for making money and an excellent example of a pragmatic businessman. Compare him with the Russian oligarchs and you'll see how bad it could be. I really think he is a good and well meaning man.
Don't fall prey to ad hominem, judge the letter for its content not for its author.
Am I missing something?
That phrase could be loosely translated as "That who doesn't do dishonest deeds in prejudice of other people cannot advance in life".
If that's a philosophy that the you want to learn, then please take Carlos Slim as a role model because he is the poster child of that ideology.
Whenever I hear the news that Carlos Slim is the richest man in the world I cringe. Bill Gates? I think the guy somewhat deserves his millions, Microsoft business practices may be morally-gray, but they have helped shape the world the way it is now. Bill Gates had change the world.
Carlos Slim has done nothing, absolutely nothing, good for the world, not even for Mexico. He is the product of a corrupt system whose only merit is being the best exploiter of his people.
If this looks like a good role-model, you are going to love Joaquin Guzman Loera. I'm waiting his letter to the young people.