Carlos Slim Helu a Mexican businessman, philanthropist, and investor was born on 28 January 1940 in Mexico City. Forbes ranked him as the richest person in the world from 2010 to 2013.
Carlos Slim Helu Net Worth:
Being the richest Latin American his estimated net worth is $68.9 billion. Today he is the fifth richest person in the world according to Forbes. Slim was born to Julian Haddad and Lindu Helu atta, a family of Maronite Christian from Lebanon.
Early Career:
Slim learned management, finance, accounting, reading financial statements, and the importance of keeping accurate financial records from his dad Julian at a young age. He learned about compound interest at the age of 11 when he invested in a government savings bond. His first stock purchase was in a Mexican bank at the age of 12. He became a shareholder in Mexico’s largest bank at the age of 15. Slim studied civil engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Slim also took economics courses in Chile.
Investments:
Slim investments include health care, education, real state, energy, transportation, entertainment, media, hospitality, retail, high technology, financial services, and sports. Slim’s private investments were $400,000 at the end of 1965. In 1966 he founded Inmobiliaria carso in 1966. In 1982 when the Mexican economy was struggling and all the investors were cutting back on investing slim invested heavily and bought many companies which he sold later at an attractive price. He bought Empresas Frisco a mining and chemical company for only $50 million.
Companies:
Slim also bought Industries Nacobre, Reynolds Aluminio, Bimex hotels, Compania Hulera Euzkadi (Mexico’s largest tire maker), and majority shares of Sanborn Hermanos food retailers. His business strategy is to buy a business and then sell the business at a greater price in the future. Slim bought Seguros de Mexico an insurance company in 1984 in the US $13 million. In 2007 slim’s stake in Sugurous reached to $1.5 billion. In 1990 slim bought the landline telephone company Telmex from the Mexican government. Telcel mobile telephone company is also owned by Telmex.
Largest single shareholder of the New York Times
In 1991 Hotel Calinda was also bought by him. In 1988 he bought a copper and aluminum products trading company the Nacobre company. Slim started expanding his business in Latin America in 1999 with the bulk of his holdings in Mexico. In 2005 he invested in a Mexican airline named Volaris. He is the largest single shareholder of the New York Times Company in 2016.
In 2007 slim sold 50.1% stake in Cigatam tobacco Company to Philip Morris for $1.1 billion. He also sold his entire interest in Porcelanite a tile company for $800 million. In 2007 the estimated value of his companies reached $150 billion. In March 2012 along with Larry King, he established a television network named Ora TV.
Richest Man in the world:
On 8 August 2007 fortune magazine reported slim to be the richest man in the world. Slim was ranked as the second richest man in the world by Forbes on March 5, 2008, and the third richest man in the world on 11 March 2009. In 2019 his net worth reached $58.1 billion making him the richest man in Latin America.