Carlos Slim Helú (born January 28, 1940) is a Mexican businessman largely focused on the telecommunications industry. He is the second richest man in
the world with a net worth of around U.S. $60 billion through his holdings.
Slim has a substantial influence over the telecommunications industry in Mexico and much of Latin America as well. He controls Teléfonos de México
(Telmex), Telcel and América Móvil companies. Though he maintains an active involvement in his companies, his three sons Carlos Slim Domit, Marco
Antonio Slim Domit and Patrick Slim Domit head them on a day-to-day basis.
Biography:
Helú's father Julián Slim, a Maronite Christian, moved to Mexico City from Lebanon at the age of 14. Julián established a dry goods store called
La Estrella del Oriente (Star of the Orient) in 1911 and purchased real estate in downtown Mexico City. He and his wife had six children, of whom
Carlos was the youngest boy.
Slim is the surname of Carlos' father Julián, who was called Youssef Salim before moving to Mexico, upon which he changed his first name to
Julián and altered his surname to Slim. He officially became Julián Slim Haddad by adding Haddad, his mother's surname, according to the
Spanish-language naming customs. In Western, non-Iberian naming conventions, Carlos Slim Helú's name would be Carlos Slim.
Slim studied engineering at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He married Soumaya Domit in 1967; the couple had six children and were
married for 32 years until Domit died of a kidney ailment in 1999.
Like his family, Carlos Slim Helu is a Maronite Christian.
World's second-richest person:
On March 5, 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Slim as the world's second-richest person, behind Warren Buffett and ahead of former world's richest
man Bill Gates. During some parts of 2007, several major financial publications had ranked Slim as the richest person on Earth.
On August 8, 2007, Fortune magazine reported that Slim had overtaken Bill Gates as the world's richest man. Slim's estimated fortune soared to
US$68 billion, based on the value of his public holdings at the end of July. Microsoft founder William Gates' net worth was estimated to be at
least US$58 billion.
On August 4, 2007, The Wall Street Journal 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". On March 29, 2007, Slim surpassed Warren
Buffett as the world's second richest person with an estimated Net Worth of US$53.1 billion compared to Buffett's US$52.4 billion. According to
The Wall Street Journal, Slim credits part of his ability to discover investment opportunities early to the writings of his friend, futurist author
Alvin Toffler.
Achievements and directorships:
Slim has been vice-president of the Mexican Stock Exchange and president of the Mexican Association of Brokerage Houses. He was the first
president of the Latin-American Committee of the New York Stock Exchange Administration Council, and was in office from 1996 through 1998.
He was on the Board of Directors of the Altria (Previously Philip Morris) Group (resigned in April, 2006) and Alcatel. He was on the Board of
Directors of SBC Communications until July 2004 to devote more time to the World Education & Development Fund, which focused on infrastructure,
health and education projects. He is also the Majority Shareholder of CompUSA. In 1997, just before the company introduced its famous iMac line,
Slim bought 3% of Apple Computer's stock, which has skyrocketed over the years.
He built an important Mexican financial-industrial empire, Grupo Carso, which owns, among other companies, the now bankrupt CompUSA electronic
retail chain. On December 8, 2007, Grupo Carso announced that the remaining 103 CompUSA stores would be either liquidated or sold, bringing an
end to the struggling company. After 28 years he became the Honorary Lifetime Chairman of the business. He is also Chairman of Teléfonos
de Mexico, América Móvil, and Grupo Financiero Inbursa.
Telecom leadership:
Slim gained notoriety when he led a group of investors that included France Télécom and Southwestern Bell Corporation in buying Telmex and
Telnor from the Mexican government in 1990 in a public tender during the presidency of Carlos Salinas. Today, ninety percent of the telephone
lines in Mexico are operated by Telmex. The mobile company, Telcel, which Carlos Slim Helú also controls, operates almost eighty percent of
all the country's cellphones. These operations have financed Mr. Slim's expansion abroad. Over the past five years, his wireless carrier América
Móvil has bought cellphone companies across Latin America, and is now the region's dominant company, with more than 100 million subscribers.
Slim was once MCI's largest shareholder, with 13 percent ownership. On April 11, 2005, The Wall Street Journal announced that he had sold his
stake in MCI to Verizon Communications of the United States.
Political life:
Slim is well known for giving public speeches on Mexican economy and technological underdevelopment, recently pointing out how the jobs for
College Graduates in Mexico, are nonexistent in the country, which causes brain drain and migration to other countries.
Top 1-25 Billionaires,
25-50 Top Billionaires,
Warren Buffett,
Carlos Slim Helu & family,
William Gates III
References:
- Miller, Matthew (March 5, 2008). "Gates No Longer World's Richest Man", Forbes. Retrieved on 2008-03-05.
- Carlos Slim Helu - Trade by Numbers®
- Luhnow, David (August 4, 2007). "The Secrets of the World's Richest Man", The Wall Street Journal, p. A1. Retrieved on 2007-08-04.
- Mehta, Stephanie (August 6, 2007). "Carlos Slim, the richest man in the world", Fortune. Retrieved on 2007-08-06.
- Coster, Helen (April 11, 2007). "Carlos Slim Helu Now World's Second-Richest Man", Forbes. Retrieved on 2007-08-11.
- End of the Line for CompUSA", sfgate.com (December 9, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
- Thompson, Ginger (June 3, 2006). "Prodded by the Left, Mexico's Richest Man Talks Equity", New York Times.
- Propone Carlos Slim globalizar el empleo - El Universal - Finanzas
- About the Academy: Academy Patrons" (HTML). Academy of Achievement website. Academy of Achievement (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-06.
- Wikipedia.org
