Carlos Slim
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Carlos Slim Helú (; born 28 January 1940) is a Mexican
business magnate A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...
, investor, and philanthropist. From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world by the ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' business magazine. He derived his fortune from his extensive holdings in a considerable number of Mexican companies through his conglomerate,
Grupo Carso Grupo Carso is a Mexican global Conglomerate (company), conglomerate company owned by Carlos Slim. It was formed in 1990 after the merger of Corporación Industrial Carso and Grupo Inbursa. The name Carso stands for Carlos Slim and Soumaya Domit ...
. As of November 2022, ''
Bloomberg Billionaires Index The ''Bloomberg Billionaires Index'', launched in March 2012, is a daily ranking of the world's 500 richest people based on their net worth. It draws information from "action in the stock market, economic indicators and news reports", features a p ...
'' ranked him as the 11th-richest person in the world with a net worth of $78 billion, making him the richest person in
Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
. Slim's corporate conglomerate spans numerous industries across the Mexican economy, of which includes education, health care, industrial manufacturing, transportation, real estate, mass media, energy, hospitality, entertainment, high-technology, retail, sports and financial services. He accounts for 40% of the listings on the
Mexican Stock Exchange The Mexican Stock Exchange ( es, Bolsa Mexicana de Valores), commonly known as Mexican Bolsa, Mexbol, or BMV, is one of two stock exchanges in Mexico, the other being BIVA - Bolsa Institucional de Valores. It is the second largest stock exchange ...
, while his net worth is equivalent to about 6% of Mexico's gross domestic product. As of 2016, he is the largest single shareholder of
The New York Times Company The New York Times Company is an American mass media company that publishes ''The New York Times''. Its headquarters are in Manhattan, New York City. History The company was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones in New York City. T ...
.


Early life

Slim was born on 28 January 1940, in
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
, to Julián Slim Haddad (born Khalil Salim Haddad Aglamaz) and Linda Helú Atta, both
Maronite The Maronites ( ar, الموارنة; syr, ܡܖ̈ܘܢܝܐ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant region of the Middle East, whose members traditionally belong to the Maronite Church, with the larges ...
Christians from
Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
. He decided at a young age that he wanted to be a businessman, and received business lessons from his father, who taught him finance, management and accounting, teaching him how to analyze, interpret, and read
financial statement Financial statements (or financial reports) are formal records of the financial activities and position of a business, person, or other entity. Relevant financial information is presented in a structured manner and in a form which is easy to un ...
s as well as the importance of keeping accurate financial records. At the age of 11, Slim invested in a government savings bond, which taught him about the concept of compound interest. He eventually saved every financial and business transaction he made into a personal ledger book, which he still keeps. At the age of 12, he made his first stock purchase, by buying shares of a Mexican bank. By the age of 15, Slim had become a shareholder in Mexico's largest bank. At the age of 17, he earned 200 pesos a week working for his father's company. He went on to study civil engineering at the
National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...
, where he also concurrently taught
algebra Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics. Elementary a ...
and linear programming. Though Slim was a civil engineering major, he displayed an interest in economics. He took economics courses in
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
when he completed his engineering degree. Graduating as a civil engineering major, Slim has stated that his mathematical ability and his background of linear programming was a key factor in helping him gain an edge in the business world, especially when analyzing the financial statements of prospective companies when making business decisions and potential investment acquisitions.


Business career


1960s

After graduating from university in 1961, Slim began his business career as a
stock trader A stock trader or equity trader or share trader, also called a stock investor, is a person or company involved in trading equity securities and attempting to profit from the purchase and sale of those securities. Stock traders may be an invest ...
in Mexico, often working 14-hour days. In 1965, profits from Slim's private investments reached , enabling him to start the stock brokerage house Inversora Bursátil. He also began laying the financial groundwork for his eventual conglomerate, Grupo Carso. In 1965, he also acquired
Jarritos Jarritos is a brand of soft drink in Mexico, founded in 1950 by Don Francisco "El Güero" Hill and now owned by Novamex, a large independent bottling conglomerate based in Guadalajara, Jalisco, property of the Hill & ac. Co. It is also dis ...
del Sur, a Mexican bottling and soft drink company. In 1966, worth , he established Inmuebles Carso, a real estate agency and holding company.


1970s

Companies in the construction, soft drink, printing, real estate, bottling and mining industries were the initial focus of Slim's burgeoning business career. He later expanded his operations and commercial activities by venturing into numerous industries across the Mexican economy including auto parts, aluminum, airlines, chemicals, tobacco, cable and wire manufacturing, paper and packaging, copper and mineral extraction, tires, cement, retail, hotels, beverage distributors, telecommunications and
financial services Financial services are the Service (economics), economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, acco ...
(Slim's Grupo Financiero Inbursa sells insurance and manages mutual funds and pension plans for millions of ordinary Mexicans). By 1972, he had established or acquired a further seven businesses in these categories, including a construction equipment rental company. In 1980, he consolidated his business interests by forming Grupo Galas as the parent company of a conglomerate that had interests in industrial manufacturing,
construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...
,
mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
,
retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...
, food, and
tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
.


1980s

In 1982, the Mexican economy contracted rapidly. As many banks were struggling and foreign investors were cutting back on investing and scurrying, Slim began
investing Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing i ...
heavily and acquired many Mexican flagship businesses at depressed valuations. Much of Slim's business dealings involved a simple strategy, which entails buying a business and retaining it for its
cash flow A cash flow is a real or virtual movement of money: *a cash flow in its narrow sense is a payment (in a currency), especially from one central bank account to another; the term 'cash flow' is mostly used to describe payments that are expected ...
, or eventually selling the stake at a greater profit in future, thereby netting the capital gains as well as reinvesting the initial principal into a new business. In addition, Grupo Carso's corporate conglomerate structure allows Slim to purchase numerous stakes across a wide range of industries, thereby making the overall conglomerate nearly recession-proof in the event that one or more industry sectors of the Mexican economy do not fare well. Amidst the Mexican economic downturn before its recovery in 1985, Slim invested heavily by snapping up numerous Mexican flagship companies for pennies on the dollar. He purchased all or a sizeable percentage of numerous Mexican businesses at significant discounts, including Empresas Frisco, a mining concessionary and chemical maker, Industrias Nacobre, a copper manufacturer, Reynolds Aluminio, a Mexican aluminum concern, Compañía Hulera Euzkadi (Mexico's largest tire maker), and Bimex hotels, a hotel chain. He also became the majority shareholder of Sanborn Hermanos, a prominent Mexican food retailer, gift shop and restaurant chain. Slim spent to acquire the Mexican insurance agency Seguros de México in 1984, and later subsumed the company into the firm, Seguros Inbursa. The value of his stake in Seguros eventually became worth by 2007, after four spinoffs. He also acquired a 40% and 50% interest in the Mexican arms of British American Tobacco and
The Hershey Company The Hershey Company, commonly known as Hershey's, is an American multinational company and one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world. It also manufactures baked products, such as cookies and cakes, and sells beverages like milksh ...
, respectively. He acquired large blocks of
Denny's Denny's (also known as Denny's Diner on some of the locations' signage) is an American table service diner-style restaurant chain. It operates over 1,700 restaurants in many countries. Description Originally opened as a Diner, coffee shop un ...
and Firestone Tires. From Seguros de México, Fianzas La Guardiana and Casa de Bolsa Inbursa, he formed the Grupo Financiero Inbursa, a financial services provider. Many of these corporate acquisitions were financed by the revenues and cash flows from Cigatam, a tobacco distributor which he purchased early in during the early 1980s Mexican economic downturn. In 1988, Slim bought Nacobre, a copper manufacturing company that manufactures, markets and distributes copper and copper alloy products, along with a chemical company, Química Fluor.


1990s

Slim earned windfall profits in the early 1990s when Mexican government began privatizing its telecom industry. With his conglomerate Grupo Carso, he acquired Telmex, a landline telephone operator from the Mexican government. In 1990, Grupo Carso was floated as a public company initially in Mexico and then worldwide. Grupo Carso also acquired majority ownership of Porcelanite, a tile making company in 1990. Later in 1990, Slim acted in concert with
France Télécom Orange S.A. (), formerly France Télécom S.A. (stylized as france telecom) is a French multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications corporation. It has 266 million customers worldwide and employs 89,000 people in France, and 5 ...
and
Southwestern Bell Corporation AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...
to purchase the landline telecommunications operator
Telmex Telmex is a Mexican telecommunications company headquartered in Mexico City that provides telecommunications products and services in Mexico. Telmex is still the dominant fixed-line phone carrier in Mexico. In addition to traditional fixed-line ...
from the Mexican government, when Mexico began privatizing its national industries. Slim was an early investment backer in Telmex, as the cash flows and revenues of the company eventually formed the bulk of his private fortune. By 2006, Telmex controlled and operated 90 percent of the telephone lines in Mexico, and his wireless telecommunications company,
Telcel Telcel is a Mexican wireless telecommunications company, owned by América Móvil. Founded in 1984 and based in Mexico City, Telcel is the leading provider of wireless communications services in Mexico. As of December 31, 2006, Telcel's cellular ...
, which was created out of the Radiomóvil Dipsa company, operated almost 80 percent of all the country's cellphones. In 1991, he acquired Hoteles Calinda (now OSTAR Grupo Hotelero), a hotel chain and in 1993, he increased his stakes in General Tire, an American tiremaker and a distributor of aluminum profiles and aluminum concern Grupo Aluminio to the point where he had a
majority interest A controlling interest is an ownership interest in a corporation with enough voting stock shares to prevail in any stockholders' motion. A majority of voting shares (over 50%) is always a controlling interest. When a party holds less than the majo ...
in the company. In 1996, Slim's conglomerate company Grupo Carso was split into three separate companies: Carso Global Telecom, Grupo Carso, and Invercorporación. In the following year, Slim bought the Mexican arm of
Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...
Roebuck. In 1999, Slim began expanding his business interests beyond Latin America. Though the bulk of his holdings remained in Mexico, he began targeting the United States for foreign investments.


2000s

Slim made headlines within the American business scene in 2003 when he began purchasing large stakes in a number of major US retailers such as
Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 U. ...
,
OfficeMax OfficeMax is an American office supplies retailer founded in 1988. It is now a subsidiary of The ODP Corporation, which is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. As of December 2012, OfficeMax operated 941 stores in 47 states, Puerto Rico, the U ...
, Office Depot, Circuit City,
Borders A border is a geographical boundary. Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film * ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...
, and
CompUSA CompUSA was a retailer and reseller of personal computers, consumer electronics, technology products and computer services. Starting with one brick-and-mortar store in 1986 under the name Soft Warehouse, by the 1990s CompUSA had grown into a nati ...
. Much of the rationale behind Slim's international commercial expansion beyond Mexico was due to a running joke in Mexican business circles where "there was nothing left to acquire in Mexico." He set up Telmex USA branch and also acquired a stake in
Tracfone TracFone Wireless, Inc. (TFWI) is an American prepaid, no-contract mobile phone provider. TFWI is a subsidiary of Verizon Communications, and offers products and services under several brands. It operates as a mobile virtual network operator ( ...
, an American cellular telephone operator. Concurrently, Slim established Carso Infraestructura y Construcción, S. A. (CICSA) as a non-profit construction and engineering firm within Grupo Carso. During the same year, Slim underwent heart surgery and subsequently passed on much of his day-to-day corporate involvement to his children and their spouses. América Telecom, the holding company for América Móvil, was incorporated in 2000. Concurrently, Telmex also spun off its international celluar phone division for a $15 billion listing of America Movil SA on the New York Stock Exchange. Telmex has taken numerous stakes of various international cellular telephone operators outside of Mexico, including the Brazilian ATL and Telecom Americas concerns, Techtel in
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, and others in
Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
and
Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...
. In subsequent years, the company made further investments across Latin America, with companies in
Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
,
Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...
,
Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...
,
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
,
Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
, and
El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...
, well as a joint venture with the American software house,
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
called Tlmsn, a Spanish-language web portal. In 2005 Slim invested in
Volaris Volaris, legally ''Concesionaria Vuela Compañía de Aviación S.A.P.I. de C.V.'', is a Mexican low-cost airline based in Santa Fe, Álvaro Obregón, Mexico City l-888-Ʒ9Ʒ-I394 with its hubs in Guadalajara, Mexico City, and Tijuana, and focu ...
, a Mexican airline and established Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo en América Latina SAB de CV (using the acronym "IDEAL"—roughly translated as "Promoter of Development and Employment in Latin America"), a Mexican construction and civil engineering company primarily engaged in not-for-profit infrastructure development. Since 2006, IDEAL won three infrastructure contracts yet it faces stiff competition from a number of other Mexican and Spanish construction companies. In 2007, after having amassed a 50.1% stake in the Cigatam tobacco manufacturer, Slim sold a large portion of his equity to Philip Morris for US$1.1billion. Also 2007, Slim sold his entire stake of tile-maker Porcelanite for US$800million. He licensed the Saks name and opened the Mexican arm of
Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street and ...
retailer in Santa Fe, Mexico. During the same year, the estimated value of all of Slim's companies was at US$150billion. On December 8, 2007, Grupo Carso announced that the remaining 103
CompUSA CompUSA was a retailer and reseller of personal computers, consumer electronics, technology products and computer services. Starting with one brick-and-mortar store in 1986 under the name Soft Warehouse, by the 1990s CompUSA had grown into a nati ...
retail stores would be either liquidated or sold, bringing an end to the struggling company, although the information technology division of
CompUSA CompUSA was a retailer and reseller of personal computers, consumer electronics, technology products and computer services. Starting with one brick-and-mortar store in 1986 under the name Soft Warehouse, by the 1990s CompUSA had grown into a nati ...
continued under the name Telvista with various U.S. locations in
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
, Texas (U.S. Corporate Office) and
Danville, Virginia Danville is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, located in the Southside Virginia region and on the fall line of the Dan River. It was a center of tobacco production and was an area of Confederate activity ...
. Telvista has five centers in Mexico (three in Tijuana, one center in Mexicali, and one in México City). After 28 years of corporate involvement, Slim became the Honorary Lifetime Chairman of the business. In 2008, Slim took a 6.4% stake valued at $27 million in the
New York Times Company The New York Times Company is an American mass media company that publishes ''The New York Times''. Its headquarters are in Manhattan, New York City. History The company was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones in New York City. T ...
, a prominent American newspaper publisher. Slim increased his stake to 8% by 2012. Slim's stake in the Times increased again to 16.8% of the company's Class A shares on 20 January 2015 when he exercised stock options to purchase 15.9 million shares, making him the largest shareholder in the company. The New York Times Company's Class A shares are available for purchase by the public and offer less control over the company than Class B shares, which are privately held. According to the company's 2016 annual filings, Slim owned 17.4% of the company's Class A shares, and none of the company's Class B shares.


2010s

In 2012, Slim sold the broadcast rights for the Leon games to the American terrestrial television network,
Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language Terrestrial television, terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Television and Streaming#NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a divi ...
, and the cable channel Fox Sports in Mexico and the rest of Latin America and to the website mediotiempo.com. The games are also broadcast on the Internet through UNO TV, offered by Telmex. Slim has been involved with broadcasting sports outside Mexico to larger markets such as the United States. In March 2012,
América Móvil América Móvil is a Mexican telecommunications corporation headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico. It is the 7th largest mobile network operator in terms of equity subscribers and one of the largest corporations in the world. América Móvil is a ...
acquired the broadcast rights for the Olympic Games in Sochi 2014 and the Brazil 2016 for Latin America. In March 2012, Slim, along with American television host
Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American television and radio host, whose awards included 2 Peabodys The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program ...
, established
Ora TV Ora TV is a television production studio and on-demand digital television network launched in 2012 by television host Larry King and his wife Shawn Southwick King and funded by América Móvil, a business venture of Mexican billionaire Carlos Sli ...
, an on-demand digital television network that produces and distributes television shows including ''
Larry King Now ''Larry King Now'' was a talk show hosted by Larry King, available on Ora TV, Hulu and RT America. Launched on July 17, 2012, the series featured interviews with newsmakers, celebrities, world leaders, and Internet stars. The show was similar to ...
'', ''Politicking with Larry King'', ''Recessionista, and Jesse Ventura Uncensored''. In September 2012, Slim bought 30% stakes in
Pachuca Pachuca (; ote, Nju̱nthe), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of whi ...
and León, two Mexican soccer teams through his telecommunications company America Movil. In December 2012, he bought all the shares of the second division team
Estudiantes Tecos Tecos Fútbol Club (often referred to by its nickname "Tecos") is a Mexican professional football club associated with the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara AC. It plays its home games in the ''Estadio 3 de Marzo'' (March 3 Stadium, named for ...
. Slim has also completed business deals for the television rights to games of the Leon soccer team. His company America Movil purchased 30 percent of the team along with transmission rights as Slim doesn't have the rights to transmit content by broadcast television or cable TV as well as putting him in competition with Televisa and TV Azteca, two television companies with rights to the rest of Mexican soccer's first division. In July 2013, Slim's company America Movil invested US$40million in Shazam, a British commercial mobile phone-based music identification service for an undisclosed share of ownership. America Movil partnered with the company to aid its growth into advertising and television and help the audio recognition service expand in Latin America. In November 2013, Slim invested US$60 million in the Israeli startup
Mobli Mobli was a social media, social mobile device, mobile Photo sharing, photo and video-sharing website founded by Israeli Entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs and brothers Moshe Hogeg, Moshe and Oded Hogeg. As of 2016 the service was shut down and the ...
, a company that deals with connections between people and communities corralled according to different interests. In December 2013, Slim's private equity fund, Sinca Inbursa, sold its stake in the Mexican pharmaceutical company Landsteiner Scientific. Slim had acquired a 27.51% stake in the company in June 2008, which represented 6.6% of Sinca's investment portfolio. The private equity fund's investments are mainly concentrated in the transportation and infrastructure sectors and the fund garnered a total market cap of 5.152 billion pesos at the end of 2012. On 23 April 2014, Slim took control of
Telekom Austria A1 Telekom Austria Group is a provider of a range of fixed-line, broadband Internet, multimedia services, data, and IT systems, wholesale as well as mobile payment services. It is a subsidiary of Mexican telecommunications conglomerate América M ...
, Austria's largest telecommunications company, which operates telcos in countries such as Bulgaria, Croatia and Belarus, under a 10-year agreement. It was Slim's first successful business acquisition in Europe. In a
syndicate A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest. Etymology The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French language, Frenc ...
holding structure the Austrian state holding company OIAG's 28% are combined with Slim's 27% ownership. America Movil will spend as much as to buy out minority shareholders in a mandatory
public offer A public offering is the offering of securities of a company or a similar corporation to the public. Generally, the securities are to be listed on a stock exchange. In most jurisdictions, a public offering requires the issuing company to publish a ...
and invest up to 1billion euros () into the company, which it sees as "platform for expansion into central and eastern Europe". Labor representatives boycotted attending the OIAG supervisory board meeting for 12 hours criticizing lack of explicit job guarantees. In January 2015, Grupo Carso publicly launched Claro Musica, an online music service that is a Latin American equivalent of
iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
and
Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
. Slim, along with his son, increased their corporate presence in Mexico's music industry, particularly in the retail music sector since 2013. Sanborn's, the Mexican retail department store chain owned by Slim controls a majority stake in Mixup, Mexico's most successful retail music store that comprises a chain 117-store Mexican retailers Mixup also generated more than in revenue in 2014. In March 2015, Slim made his presence known in the Spanish business scene by buying stakes in various troubled Spanish companies while perusing potential acquisitions across Europe. Slim's investment company, Inmobiliaria Carso, announced it will buy a stake in the Spanish bank,
Bankia Bankia () was a Spanish financial services company that was formed in December 2010, consolidating the operations of seven regional savings banks, and was partially nationalized by the government of Spain in May 2012 due to the near collapse of ...
, which couples with Slim's other purchase of Realia, a Spanish real estate company, where Slim is the second largest shareholder holding a 25% equity stake, behind
Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas, S.A. (), or FCC, is a Spanish construction company based in Barcelona. Until November 2014, over 50 percent of the shares were owned by a company controlled by the daughter of its founder, Esther Koplo ...
, a Spanish construction company where Slim is also an active minor shareholder. On April 15, 2015, Slim formed oil company Carso Oil & Gas. A report that was released by the new company listed its assets at 3.5billion pesos (approximately ), placed within 17.7million shares. Upon formation of the company, Slim remained sanguine about the company's future potential and Mexico's burgeoning energy sector where the state monopoly ceased to exist. On July 25, 2015, Slim's investment group ''Control Empresarial de Capitales'' invested in IMatchative, a technology startup that ranks the world's hedge funds creating in-depth behavioral profiles and business analytics. Limited partners pay per subscription while hedge fund managers pay half the price and also sign up for a free version of the products the company offers.


Family and personal life

Slim's father, Khalil Salim Haddad Aglamaz, was born on 17 July 1888 in Jezzine, Lebanon (then part of the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
). In 1902, at the age of 14, Haddad emigrated to Mexico alone, and later changed his name to Julián Slim Haddad. It was not uncommon for Lebanese children to be sent abroad before they reached the age of 15 to avoid being
conscripted Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day und ...
into the
Ottoman Army The military of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun silahlı kuvvetleri) was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. Army The military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the ...
, and four of Haddad's older brothers were already living in Mexico at the time of his arrival. In 1911, Julián established a
dry goods Dry goods is a historic term describing the type of product line a store carries, which differs by region. The term comes from the textile trade, and the shops appear to have spread with the mercantile trade across the British Empire (and forme ...
retail store, La Estrella de Oriente (The Star of the Orient). By 1921, he had begun investing in real estate in the flourishing commercial district of Mexico City where Julián acquired prime Mexican real estate at fire sale prices and in the Zocalo District during the 1910–17 Mexican Revolution. By 1922, Julián's net worth reached $1,012,258
pesos The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the same sign, "$", as many currencies named "dollar" ...
, diversified among various assets including real estate, privately-controlled businesses and stocks. In August 1926, Julián Slim married Linda Helú Atta. Linda, of Lebanese ancestry, was born in Parral, Chihuahua. Her parents had immigrated to Mexico from Lebanon in the late 19th century. Upon immigrating to Mexico, her parents founded one of the first Arabic-language magazines for the Lebanese-Mexican community, using a printing press they had brought with them. Julian and Linda had six children: Nour, Alma, Julián, José, Carlos, and Linda. Julián senior died in 1953, when Carlos was 13 years old. Julian's major successful business ventures and investment undertakings became the source of considerable wealth for himself and his family. As a prominent businessman and wealthy investor who remained a reputable pillar within the Lebanese Mexican community, Julian was known for his business acumen and his knack when making investments during bad economic cycles (which occurred frequently in Mexico). Julián was known for his business savvy, strong work ethic, and commitment to traditional Lebanese moral values. In February 2011, Julian, the oldest brother of Carlos, died aged 74. He was an active businessman and worked in one of Mexico's top intelligence agencies.


Personal life

Carlos Slim was married to Soumaya Domit from 1967 until her death in 1999. Among her interests were various philanthropic projects. Slim has six children: Carlos, Marco Antonio, Patrick, Soumaya, Vanessa, and Johanna. His three older sons serve in key positions in the companies controlled by Slim where most are involved in the day-to-day running of Slim's business empire. Slim underwent heart surgery in 1999. In high school, Slim's favorite subjects were history,
cosmography The term cosmography has two distinct meanings: traditionally it has been the protoscience of mapping the general features of the cosmos, heaven and Earth; more recently, it has been used to describe the ongoing effort to determine the large-sca ...
, and mathematics. Slim and his wife had a very happy marriage, and he indicated that he does not intend to remarry. In his office, Slim does not have a computer, and instead keeps all his financial data in hand-written notebooks. Due to the vast size of his business empire, he often jokes that he cannot keep track of all the companies he manages. Slim is a
Maronite Catholic The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic '' sui iuris'' particular church in full communion with the pope and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. The current head of the ...
, and he is one of the prominent backers of
Legion of Christ The Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ ( la, Congregatio Legionariorum Christi; abbreviated LC; also Legion of Christ) is a Roman Catholic clerical religious order made up of priests and candidates for the priesthood established by Marci ...
, a
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
religious institute A religious institute is a type of institute of consecrated life in the Catholic Church whose members take religious vows and lead a life in community with fellow members. Religious institutes are one of the two types of institutes of consecrate ...
. On 25 January 2021, it was reported that Slim had contracted
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.


Personal fortune


Wealth

On 29 March 2007, Slim surpassed American investor
Warren Buffett Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net w ...
as the world's second richest person with an estimated net worth of compared with Buffett's . On 4 August 2007, ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' ran a cover story profiling Slim. The article said, "While the market value of his stake in publicly traded companies could decline at any time, at the moment he is probably wealthier than
Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
". According to ''The Wall Street Journal'', Slim credits part of his ability to "discover investment opportunities" early to the writings of his friend,
futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...
author
Alvin Toffler Alvin Eugene Toffler (October 4, 1928 – June 27, 2016) was an American writer, futurist, and businessman known for his works discussing modern technologies, including the digital revolution and the communication revolution, with emphasis on t ...
. On 8 August 2007, ''
Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
'' magazine reported that Slim had overtaken Gates as the world's richest person. Slim's estimated fortune soared to , based on the value of his public holdings at the end of July. Gates' net worth was estimated to be at least . On 5 March 2008, ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' ranked Slim as the world's second-richest person, behind Warren Buffett and ahead of Bill Gates. On 11 March 2009, ''Forbes'' ranked Slim as the world's third-richest person, behind Gates and Buffett and ahead of
Larry Ellison Lawrence Joseph Ellison (born August 17, 1944) is an American business magnate and investor who is the co-founder, executive chairman, chief technology officer (CTO) and former chief executive officer (CEO) of the American computer technology ...
. On 10 March 2010, ''Forbes'' once again reported that Slim had overtaken Gates as the world's richest person, with a net worth of . At the time, Gates and Buffett had a net worth of and respectively. He was the first Mexican to top the list. It was the first time in 16 years that the person on top of the list was not from the United States. It was also the first time the person at the top of the list was from an emerging economy. Between 2008 and 2010, Slim more than doubled his net worth from $35 to $75 billion. In March 2011, ''Forbes'' stated that Slim had maintained his position as the wealthiest person in the world, with his fortune estimated at . In December 2012, according to the ''Bloomberg Billionaires Index'', Carlos Slim Helú remained the world's richest person with an estimated net worth of . On 5 March 2013, ''Forbes'' stated that Slim was still maintaining his first-place position as the wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of . On 16 May 2013,
Bloomberg L.P. Bloomberg L.P. is a privately held financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was co-founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981, with Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan (Bloomberg), Duncan MacMi ...
ranked Slim the second-richest person in the world, after Bill Gates. On July 15 2014, ''Forbes'' announced that Slim had reclaimed the position of the wealthiest person in the world, with a fortune of . In September 2014, ''Forbes'' listed Slim as number 1 on its
list of billionaires ''The World's Billionaires'' is an annual ranking by documented net worth of the wealthiest billionaires in the world, compiled and published in March annually by the American business magazine ''Forbes''. The list was first published in March ...
with a net worth of . In December 2016, Slim's net worth was estimated to be US$48.1 billion. In 2017, his net worth was reported to be $54.5 billion. In 2019, his net worth was said to be at least $58.1 billion, making him the richest man in Mexico. In October 2020, his net worth was estimated at $53.7 billion. In 2021 Forbes stated his net worth as $73.3 billion.


Real estate

Slim is an active real estate investor. His real estate holding company, Inmobiliaria Carso has developed, invested, owned and operated many residential and commercial real estate properties across Mexico since the 1960s. His real estate company constructured Plaza Carso in Mexico City, where most of his business ventures share a common headquarters address. Since the early 2000s to the mid-2010s, Slim has been making private real estate investments internationally beyond Mexico, particularly in Spain and the United States. In May 2014, Slim opened Inbursa Aquarium, Latin America's largest aquarium. Slim owns the Benjamin N. Duke House, Duke Seamans mansion, a 1901 beaux arts house on 5th Avenue in New York City, which he bought for $44 million in 2010. The mansion is 20,000 square feet and has 12 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, and a doctor's office in the basement. In May 2015, he listed the property for sale at $80 million, nearly twice what he had paid. In April 2015, Slim bought the Marquette Building (Detroit), Marquette Building in Detroit and purchased PepsiCo Americas Beverages headquarters in Somers, New York, for . Slim owns a second mansion in New York City at 10 West 56th Street, which he bought in 2011 for . In March 2015, Slim began examining Spain as a potential investment destination, by purchasing cheap properties in Spain's real estate sector at rock-bottom prices in its ailing economy.


Reactions

Slim's growing wealth has been a subject of controversy, because it has been amassed in a developing country where average per capita income does not surpass a year, and nearly 17% of the population lives in poverty. Critics claim that Slim is a monopolist, pointing to Telmex's control of 90% of the Mexican landline telephone market. Slim's wealth is the equivalent of roughly 5% of Mexico's annual economic output. Telmex, of which 49.1% is owned by Slim and his family, charges among the highest usage fees in the world, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. According to Celso Garrido, economist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Slim's domination of Mexico's conglomerates prevents the growth of smaller companies, resulting in a shortage of paying jobs, forcing many Mexicans to seek better lives in the U.S. Slim was criticized by the Dutch minister of economic affairs, Henk Kamp, in 2013 for attempting to expand his telecommunications empire beyond the Americas by América Móvil's buy-out offer to KPN, a Dutch landline and mobile telecommunications operator. Kamp reiterated his criticisms of Slim stating: "an acquisition of KPN by a 'foreign company' could have consequences for the Netherlands' national security". Two years after Slim's failed bid to take over the company, mainly due to political intervention and Slim's paucity of interest in purchasing the company, Slim's America Movil SAB began offering 2.25billion euros. America Movil now controls a 21.1 percent stake of KPN with a market value of 3.1billion euros as of 20 May 2015. Slim has been slowly decreasing his holdings since he was forced to withdraw a 7.2-billion-euro bid for the Dutch phone line carrier in 2013 after negotiations collapsed. In response to the criticism, Slim has stated, "When you live for others' opinions, you are dead. I don't want to live thinking about how I'll be remembered [by Mexican people]," claiming indifference about his position on Forbes list of the world's richest people. He has said he has no interest in becoming the world's richest person. When asked to explain his sudden increase in wealth at a press conference soon after Forbes annual rankings were published, he said, "The stock market goes up ... and down", and noted that his fortune could quickly drop. In 2016, then Presidential candidate and eventual 45th President of the United States Donald Trump accused Slim of being involved in editorial articles critical of him published in ''The New York Times'' during his Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign, 2016 Presidential campaign. The Times responded to these accusations by saying that Slim had never interfered in editorial policy. Later in 2017, Trump and Slim met in person. Slim spoke quite positively about the meeting.


Philanthropy

Slim has been publicly skeptical of The Giving Pledge by
Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
and
Warren Buffett Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net w ...
giving away at least half of their fortunes. But—according to his spokesman—he devoted , or roughly 5%, to his Carlos Slim foundation as of 2011. Though Slim has not gone as far as Gates and Buffett in pledging more than half of his fortune, Slim has expressed firm support for philanthropy and has advised budding entrepreneurs that businessmen must do more than givethey "should participate in solving problems". In 2019, Forbes put Slim in the list of the world's most generous philanthropists outside of the US.


''Fundación Carlos Slim''

Established in 1986, ' sponsors the Museo Soumaya in Mexico City, named after Slim's late wife, Soumaya Domit, opened 2011. It holds 66,000 pieces, including religious relics, contains the world's second-largest collection of Auguste Rodin, Rodin sculptures, including ''The Kiss (Rodin sculpture), The Kiss'', the largest Salvador Dalí collection in Latin America, works by Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and coins from the viceroys of Spain. The inauguration in 2011 was attended by the President of Mexico, Nobel Prize laureates, writers and other celebrities. After stating that he had donated of dividends to ''Fundación Carlos Slim'', in 2006, and another in 2010, Slim was ranked fifth in
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
' World's Biggest Givers in May 2011. Education and health care projects have included $100 million to perform 50,000 cataract surgeries in Peru.


''Fundación Telmex''

In 1995, Slim established ''Fundación Telmex'', a broad-ranging philanthropic foundation, which as he announced in 2007 had been provided with an asset base of to establish ''Carso Institutes for Health, Sports and Education''. Furthermore, it was to work in support of an initiative of Bill Clinton to aid the people of Latin America. The foundation has organized Copa Telmex, an amateur sports tournament, recognized in 2007 and 2008 by Guinness World Records as having the most participants of any such tournament in the world. Together with Fundación Carlos Slim Helú, Telmex announced in 2008 that it was to invest more than in Mexican sports programs, from grass-roots level to Olympic standard. Telmex sponsored the Sauber Motorsport, Sauber F1 team for the 2011 season. Telmex donated at least $1 million to the Clinton Foundation.


''Fundación del Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México A.C.''

Slim has been Chair of the Council for the Restoration of the Historic Downtown of Mexico City since 2001. In 2011, he, along with the president of Mexico, Mexico City mayor, and Mexico City archbishop, inaugurated the first phase of Plaza Mariana close to Basilica de Guadalupe. The complex, whose construction was funded by Slim, includes an evangelization center, museum, columbarium, health center, and market.Description of Plaza Mariana (Spanish)


Awards

* Entrepreneurial Merit Medal of Honor in 1985 from Mexico's Chamber of Commerce. * Commander in the Belgium, Belgian Order of Leopold II * Golden Plate Award of the Academy of Achievement, American Academy of Achievement in 1994 * CEO of the year in 2003 by ''Latin Trade'' magazine * CEO of the decade in 2004 by ''Latin Trade'' magazine * Fundacion Telmex received in 2007 the National Sports Prize of Mexico for sports promotion * In 2008, his philanthropy was recognized with the award of The National Order of the Cedar by the Lebanese government. * In 2011, the Hispanic Society of America awarded Fundacion Carlos Slim the Sorolla Medal for its contribution to the arts and culture * On 20 May 2012, Slim was awarded an honorary doctorate in public service from George Washington University.Honorary Doctorate in Public Service by George Washington University
* On 21 March 2020, he was awarded the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute Sophia Award for Excellence at an awards luncheon.


References


External links

*
Carlos Slim
at
Bloomberg L.P. Bloomberg L.P. is a privately held financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was co-founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981, with Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan (Bloomberg), Duncan MacMi ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slim, Carlos Carlos Slim, 1940 births Businesspeople from Mexico City Businesspeople in metals Living people Mexican billionaires Mexican businesspeople in retailing Mexican businesspeople in the oil industry Mexican chief executives Mexican company founders Mexican Eastern Catholics Mexican expatriates in the United States Mexican football chairmen and investors Mexican investors Mexican Maronites Mexican mass media owners Mexican mining businesspeople Mexican people of Lebanese descent Mexican philanthropists Mexican real estate businesspeople Mexican stock traders Mexican telecommunications industry businesspeople Mexican venture capitalists National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni People named in the Paradise Papers Recipients of the National Order of the Cedar Samsung people Slim family, Carlos The New York Times people