Carlos Slim To Merge Fixed and Mobile Business (AMOV)

Billionaire Carlos Slim is planning to consolidate his mobile and fixed-line telephone businesses in Brazil. The merger will help in curtailing costs. According to Folha de S.Paulo newspaper, Slim is looking to merge fixed-line company Embratel with Claro. The merger is likely to be completed in around two months. Claro is the Brazilian unit of America Movil

. The newspaper also reported that Slim is likely to favor Jose Formoso Martinez over Joao Cox for heading the merged unit. Martinez is the Chief Executive Officer of Embratel, whereas Joao is the CEO of Claro. According to Reuters, the merger will shift control of fixed-line companies Telmex and Telmex Internacional to America Movil (

).