From 2010 to 2013, he was considered the richest man on the planet, surpassing Bill Gates himself by half a billion. According to media estimates, the businessman’s fortune is 8% of Mexico’s GDP. According to the latest data, Slim Al’s capital is about $ 50 billion. Several analysts call Mexico “Slimland”: in no corner of the country does it do without the services or products of Carlos’ companies. Along with the noisy fame of the billionaire, they were accused of monopoly and the use of state structures for personal gain. At home, Slim Elu is considered almost a fantastic figure. There is no other way to name a person from a poor Lebanese family of immigrants who became a great autocrat.
At the beginning of the story
Carlos Slim was born on January 28, 1940, in Mexico City. He was one of six children of a Lebanese refugee and the daughter of a merchant. His father, Julian Slim, arrived in Mexico in 1902 to avoid serving in the Ottoman army. He took up the real estate business, acquired real estate in a prestigious part of the city, and later opened a grocery company. Julian tried his best to instill in his children business acumen, the ability to competently handle money and earn it. From early childhood, all six of the entrepreneur’s children worked in their father’s supermarket. From them, he demanded devotion and diligence, and in return gave out good pocket money and taught them to “manage”. Thus, savings became firmly embedded in the life of young Carlos, and at the age of 12, he got his first investment experience, opening an account to buy shares in Banco Nacional de México.
First business
In 1953, Carlos’s father suddenly passed away. In 1961, Carlos received an engineering degree from Mexico City National University, and in 1965 began to create his empire Grupo Carso. In 1966, at the age of 26, he created a real estate agency, which was an excellent start for future development. In 1980, Slim Elu acquired several large enterprises and founded his own companies. In 1982, Mexico plunges into a financial crisis. Investors are rapidly withdrawing their savings and leaving the country. What is Carlos Slim doing at this time? For a song, he acquires large companies whose shares have plummeted in value. Thus, by 1990, Grupo Carso already included enterprises in the chemical, metallurgical, and mining industries, trading and banking companies, and a hotel chain. Our hero is not the first for whom the crisis has become a booming point, while the rest in panic “lay low”.
High connections
In the early 90s, Carlos makes a deal that caused a wide resonance in society. He buys telecommunications company Telmex – Mexico’s largest monopoly – for $ 400 million, while the firm’s market value was estimated at $ 12 billion. Why? The ability to make the right connections came to the rescue: among others, he sponsored the political party of Carlos Salinas, the president of Mexico. The international arena for Carlos Al is getting a little cramped within one state. He makes his company public with an initial public offering of Grupo Carso. Since the early 2000s, Slim has been buying up telecommunications firms throughout Latin America. In 2008, he acquired the assets of other telephone and financial organizations.
Competition for primacy in Forbes
In 2006, Carlos was ranked third on the list of billionaires with a net worth of $ 30 billion, behind Gates and Buffett. In the next 2007 year, Fortune magazine announced the leadership of Al in the list of the richest people on the planet, but Forbes did not share this point of view, “lowering” Carlos (with his then already 60 billion fortune) to the second position – after Warren Buffett. In 2009, having lost more than 20 billion dollars during the global crisis, Carlos Slim was again on the third line. In 2010, a net worth of $ 53.5 billion propelled Elu to the top spot, followed by Gates with half a billion less. In 2011, Slim increased his capital to $ 74 billion.
Family values
Carlos is a widower: his wife Somaya Domit Gemayel died in 1999. The businessman has six children, each of whom is involved in the affairs of his father. Slim Elu, like his father in his time, devoted a lot of effort to the financial education of his children and instilled in them the value of family relationships, respect and responsibility to each other. “Many are trying to change the world for the better for the sake of their children. I want to change my children for the better so that they serve the world.” Carlos is one of the world’s largest philanthropists. He created the Carlos Slim Charitable Foundation, which supports education, medicine, and culture in Mexico.
