Carlos Slim Helú is a Mexican businessman with an estimated net worth of $60.35 billion as of April 2021. He had earnings of more than $10 billion from April 2020 to April 2021 and is the sixteenth wealthy person in the world according to Forbes, and the twenty-third according to Bloomberg. Forbes’ 2010 list of the world’s great fortunes states that Slim was the wealthiest person on earth, and he ranked as the world’s richest man again in 2011 and 2012.

Slim has a majority shareholding in América Móvil, Latin America's largest mobile telecommunications enterprise. He owns 1.879 million AA shares (9.1%) and 3.072 million L shares (6.8%) of the company, in addition to 3.558 million AA Shares (17.3%) and 9.570 million L Shares (21.3%) that control through the family trust, totaling more than $25.5 billion. Besides, Inversora Carso, which is deemed to be controlled by the Slim family, owns 21.3% of the AA shares and 13.4% of the L shares, equal to $16.3 billion. Slim also owns stakes in Mexican commercial banks, consumer goods, construction, mining, and real estate firms, and 17% of The New York Times.

Slim was born on January 28, 1940 in Mexico City. His father, Julián Slim Haddad, was a Lebanese immigrant who became a businessman and died when his son was 13 years old. His mother, Linda Helú, had Lebanese origins and arrived in Mexico at the end of the 19th century. He has five siblings. At the early age of 12, Slim bought shares of Banco Nacional de México.

In 1961, Slim graduated with a Civil Engineering degree at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where he taught Algebra and Linear Programming while studying. In 1965, he founded Inversora Bursatil, a stock brokerage. The following year, Slim started the construction company Inmobiliaria Carso. Eventually, the firms merged constituting Grupo Carso, which began trading on the Mexican stock market in 1990 and was renamed Inversora Carso in 2016.

During the Mexican debt crisis of the 1980s, Slim invested in aluminum, copper, mining, and tobacco, and he also bought the restaurant and retail chain Sanborn Hermanos. Slim’s portfolio grew to include a printer and retail stores. He then acquired the Mexican interests of a number of US-based brands such as Denny’s coffee shops, Firestone tires, and Hershey’s chocolate. Slim later purchased and merged a number of insurance companies into the firm Seguros Inbursa, today Grupo Financiero Inbursa, which also has interests in banking.

In partnership with SBC and France Telecom, Slim acquired in 1990 a stake in Telmex, the state-owned telephone company, and in Grupo Condumex, a wire and fiber-optic cable manufacturer. He had a particular interest in a small part of Telmex’s operations, the company’s incipient cellphone service. In 1996, Slim founded América Móvil, a pioneer in mobile prepayment systems. In the 2000s, he started to buy mobile phone operators in Latin America through América Móvil, which merged with Telmex in 2011.

In 2017, Slim launched a television network in the United States named Nuestra Visión, presenting only Mexican content, including news, movies, and sports. The operator competes with Univisión and Televisa for a potential audience of 35 million persons of Mexican origin or ancestry living in the country.

Slim has served as Vice Chairman of the Mexican Stock Exchange and Chairman of the Mexican Association of Brokerage Firms. He was also the first Chairman of the Latin American Committee of the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange. Besides, Slim co-chaired the UNESCO’s Broadband Commission for Digital Development.

Slim is still active in business although his main work is focused on his foundations. Since 1986, the Carso Foundation has developed education and training programs throughout Latin America. The Museo Soumaya, established in 1994, preserves a collection of Mexican and European art while funding art research, conservation activities, and traveling exhibitions. The Telmex Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic institutions in Latin America, has financed activities in health, nutrition, and disaster relief, as well as higher education scholarships. Slim himself was the main donor to the restoring project of Mexico City’s downtown. In total, he has given more than $3 billion to charity.

In 1967, Slim married his late wife Soumaya Domit Gemayel (1999), with whom had six children: Carlos, Vanessa, Soumaya, Patrick, Johanna, and Marco Antonio.

Sources: Achievement.org, América Móvil, Bloomberg, Carlos Slim, Forbes.

This article was updated on April 13, 2021 by Andrés Taurian

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