Carlos Slim Helu is a multibillionaire investor and philanthropist. Forbes magazine has repeatedly called the businessman the richest man, and currently, he owns more than 200 enterprises around the world. Today, Carlos Slim Elu, whose success story has already become almost a legend, is trying to convey to people the knowledge that helped him at one time to get into the ranking of the richest people in the world.
Carlos Slim Elu: the beginning of a success story
Carlos’s parents were Maronite Catholics of Lebanese descent. His father, nee Khalil Salim Haddad Aglamaz, was sent to Mexico in 1902 to avoid serving in the Ottoman army. After arriving in Mexico City, the man changed his name to Julian Slim Haddad.
In 1911, the family opened a haberdashery store, the proceeds from which they spent on the purchase of luxury real estate in Mexico City for a pittance during the 1910-1917 revolution. A thriving business and smart investment helped Carlos’ father become a wealthy man with a net worth of over 1,000,000 pesos, which was a huge fortune 100 years ago.
Carlos Slim from early childhood was interested in his father’s work. Julian happily taught the boy the secrets of management, reading, and writing financial papers.
Independent life
In 1953, when Carlos was only 13, his father died, but Slim continued to work for his father’s company, which eventually passed to him. After graduating from high school, he entered the National Autonomous University, where he studied civil engineering. In addition to construction, Carlos was interested in economics, attending all kinds of courses and lectures. After graduating from university in 1961, Slim Elu went to work as a stockbroker in Mexico City.
By the age of 25, trading had brought him $ 400,000, or $ 3,000,000 in modern terms. Carlos invested his fortune in Inversora Bursatil, his brokerage firm. One of his biggest opportunities for Slim was the peso crisis in the early 1980s, coupled with a sharp drop in oil prices. Carlos bought several companies at discounted prices. For example, Cigatam (the second-largest cigarette manufacturer in the country), Reynolds Aluminum, General Tire, and the Sanborns chain of stores.
Perhaps the biggest part of Slim’s fortune comes from telecommunications. Carlos is the owner of America Movil, formerly Telefonos de Mexico or Telmex. Through deliberate action, the family-owned conglomerate now controls 70% of the mobile phone market and 80% of fixed telecommunications in Mexico through subsidiaries. In addition to their homeland, America Movil subsidiaries are active in the United States, Austria, and virtually all countries in Central and South America.
The basic rule of doing business for Carlos Slim is to buy an asset, reinvest and sell at a profit.
How he makes money
Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has had a hand in literally a hundred third-party companies, mainly through Grupo Carso SAB, Slim’s global conglomerate. Grupo Carso has or had stakes in companies such as Elementia (one of the leading cement producers in Mexico), retail (Sears and Saks Fifth Avenue), energy and construction (CICSA), and the automotive industry (Grupo Condumex). Carlos Slim even has a stake in The New York Times.
Almost complete control over telecommunications at home brought more than $ 8 billion to Slim’s fortune. However, legislation forced the percentage of assets to be reduced to 50% due to the new antitrust law to enable other companies to compete with the conglomerate.
Real estate also remains one of Carlos’s main sources of income. A businessman buys buildings, refurbishes them, and resells them for a great price. Slim also owns 20 shopping centers in Mexico, 10 of which are located in Mexico City. The rent from these assets brings in up to hundreds of millions a year.
