Biography: Ricardo Salinas Pliego
Ricardo Salinas is one of the richest men in the world; this wealth comes from two holding companies of which he is the majority owner. Grupo Salinas and Grupo Elektra are family companies that were founded by his great grandfather and grandfather respectively. Under Salinas' watch however they have grown into two of the most powerful companies in Mexico with large ownership stakes in some of the country's largest businesses.
Ricardo Salinas was born into a family of entrepreneurs in Mexico. In the early part of the twentieth century his great grandfather founded a company called Grupo Salinas to build furniture. The company remained fairly small until Salinas' grandfather added Grupo Elektra in 1950. This was a company that owned the stores to sell the furniture that they were making. The result was that both companies thrived. Ricardo Salinas would take over running the two companies in the mid eighties just as disaster was hitting. Mexico devalued its peso to deal with a massive debt problem. The result was a financial crisis.
In order to keep his company afloat during the crisis of the mid-eighties in Mexico Ricardo Salinas changed the focus to appliances and furniture that was aimed mainly at the lower middle class. These products were still out of the reach of most people so the company also began to offer credit to people who wanted to buy their products. This approach proved to be very successful and has remained a core part of their business. So much so that these days the bulk of their income is from the consumer financing arm of the company.
In 2002 Grupo Elektra got a charter to open a new bank. This was a rare achievement as they were the first company to be given one in more than a decade. This new bank really gave the company the opportunity to expand as they were able to continue to focus on offering loans to the large lower middle class population of Mexico. These people tend to be ignored by other lenders so the company found a large market with very little competition. The results have been outstanding and have made Ricardo Salinas one of the richest men in the world.
Most of the profits that have been earned from the bank have gone into buying companies in the telecommunications sector. The company is a major shareholder in TV Azteca, the largest Spanish language television station in the world. They are large enough share holders that Salinas serves as the chairman of the company. They have also put money into creating a wireless network as well as a broadband internet service provider. The result is that Ricardo Salinas is now a major shareholder in some of the largest companies in Mexico and one of the wealthiest men in the world.