CompUSA seems to have been one of Carlos Slim's few mistakes. He will be glad to unload it. It is interesting what he is doing with Telmex now-- splitting the company between it's domestic and international business. This will be good for investors there.

Several items on Carlos Slim are available free in the (yellow label, top) Billionaire Watch section at http://www.Barrelomoney.com.

Back in 1999 when Grupo Carso made his bid (together with two other partners) for CompUSA, nobody in the US business arena believed the dying company could be turned around. However, Slim, long known in Mexico by the nickname of King Midas, had a different plan in mind. He has a long standing record of buying low, turning around, and sometimes selling the newly refurbished company but often keeping it as part of his portfolio of hundreds of companies, many of them way beyond the borders of Mexico. Soon after the acquisition of CompUSA, he bought out his partners and privatized the company. Later on, he transferred the property of CompUSA to U.S. Commercial Corp S.A. de C.V., a Mexican corporation controlled by Grupo Carso --the only asset of Comercial is the stock of CompUSA. After applying the Midas (Slim that is) touch to CompUSA, Comercial was listed in the Mexican Stock Exchange (Bolsa Mexicana de Valores -- BMV). Slim must know something about the virtues of the BMV that we mortals don't know; he actually controls over 50% of the companies listed in that exchange. Now it looks like he is closing CompUSA, an unusual step in Slim’s meteoric journey towards becoming the world’s richest man. Is he buying another retailer in the US? In spite of his large investments in telecommunications and other industries, he does have a special attraction towards buying retailers of all flavors. His track record is outstanding. Slim's business acumen has positioned him as the richest man in the world in spite of the difficulties encountered in a country like Mexico and partially described in A Silent Nightmare, available at Amazon.

Im writing this paper with the hope and faith that it will be read by Carlos Slim, you don’t understand in how much of a need I am for college money. I don’t have a way to pay for my tuition; my parents don’t have enough money to pay for my education. They already have a lot stress and worries with my brother’s college. If I don’t receive help I have no idea what am I going to do. I know that a minimum wage job is not going to pay for it. I fell really frustrated and unfortunate, if there was only one way to pay for it, but there isn’t. I don’t even have the right to financial aid or to more than 75% of scholarships because thing are the way they are and because am illegal. The only thing I have for me is my grades and my willingness to succeed. I have no idea what you think of me, but I could tell you one thing, I’m not going to give up. I’ve been searching for scholarships and financial aid ever since the end of my junior year , till now I haven’t found anything , I know that my time is running out, am very concern of that, that is exactly why I’m writing this. I’ve already apply to numerous universities and I’m still waiting for an answer. I wonder what’s going to happen if I get accepted and I don’t have a way to pay for it, what im a going to do. What about all the hard work I’ve done throughout my 4 years of high school. What about all my concerns on going to university. It feels like a big lie, I don’t understand why. All I want is to be successful, to go to college. All I need is one chance, one opportunity; I need someone to believe in me, someone who would help me with my college expenses. This is not just money for me, this is my education, this is my life. All I‘ve ever thought of.

Thank you for reading

Agustin Cuenca