Carlos Slim Helu is now synonymous with prosperity in Mexico because of the vast wealth that his name commands. And while the business titan is no longer the world’s richest billionaire after holding the position from 2010 to 2013, he never misses the world’s list for his multiple holdings in some of Mexico’s most respected companies.
With his innovative business strategies expanding across various sectors such as healthcare, real estate, transportation, energy, entertainment, media, sports, retail and numerous others that continue to maintain strong income and growth, there will be no fatal financial missteps for the Mexican billionaire in the near future Future. Let’s explore how he made himself a billionaire for life.
Carlos Slim Helus Bio
Carlos was born on January 28, 1940 and grew up in Mexico, where he was born. He was raised in a Christian home as he was born to Lebanese parents Julián Slim Haddad and Linda Helu Atta who practiced Maronite Catholicism. He has five siblings including Nour, Alma, Linda, Jose and Carlos. He is from the Middle East and has Lebanese ancestry.
Family business – father
Carlos Slim comes from a business oriented household and the law of expansion seems like a cue he took from his father. His father, who had moved his family to Mexico, opened a dry goods store with the little money he had at the time. Ten years after its founding, its merchandise was worth around $100,000. With the dramatic growth, the business has expanded into real estate investments. And by 1922, Julian Slim Haddad, who originally went by the name of Khali Salim Haddad Aglamaz, amassed an estimated fortune of $1,012,258. And thankfully, the business tycoon hasn’t stopped diversifying and has never stopped growing.
This growth allowed Julian Slim to gain recognition as one of the wealthiest men in Mexico, mostly revered for his shrewd trades. Sadly, Julian Slim died in 1953 when Carlos was only 13, but the many legacies he left were carried on by Carlos Slim and were also prioritized at his age so it is not surprising that he did so could build his own empire. The experiences of his maternal parents, who immigrated to Mexico like his father and owned a magazine that was among the first Arabic language magazines for both Mexico and the Lebanese community, helped instill more knowledge in the business world.
Early business career
Slim developed a great passion for the business as a child and knew it was his calling. But he didn’t want to be illiterate. As a result, he decided to gain knowledge in this field and began taking courses in finance, management and accounting with his father, Julián.
Before he became a teenager, Carlos made a profitable money move investing in a government bond. The company gave him an idea of the concept of compound interest. By this time he was interested in record keeping and was given a personal ledger of every transaction he was involved in. The billionaire still has some of those records to this day.
At age 12, he took another big step, buying his first stock in a Mexican bank. Three years later he became a shareholder in Mexico’s largest bank. After small jobs, he enrolled at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Carlos Slim, who arrived at the school, studied mathematics and economics. He excelled in both courses coming from a linear programming background. This has helped him become an expert at reading business statements.
Between 1961 and today – the current assets
In 1961, when he finished the whole classwork and calculations, the billionaire began trading in Mexico. Because he was his own boss and it took a lot of effort to be successful in business, Carlos worked 14 hour days. After four years, the store began flooding with cash, which grew to $400,000.
This served as cash for the billionaire to expand into other businesses. Jarritos del Sur was one of his foundations at the time. and Real Estate Carso. He also began the initial preparations for the launch of Grupo Carso. Since then it has grown to numerous companies that have survived the 80’s and 90’s. It is growing steadily and making strong profits in the 2000s.
As CEO of Telmex, América Móvil and Grupo CarsoCarlos Slim Helu is the seventh richest and richest man in the world in Mexico with a net worth of $61.3 billion.
As he continues to hit the right financial goals, the civil engineer keeps getting richer and that’s not going to change any time soon.
Carlos Slim Helu’s children, wife
Carlos Slim was tied to the love of his life, Soumaya Domit in 1967. But he lost her to the evil clutches of death in 1999. Soumaya, like her husband, was active in charitable endeavors. Their marriage produced six children and Slim has made it clear that everything he has built and achieved belongs to his children. Three of his older sons hold senior positions in some of his companies. Since her death, Carlos has remained single and seems unwilling to commit to a woman.
Height and Other Facts
1. Carlos Slim Helu is 1.73 m tall and weighs 90 kg. The birth sign of billionaires is Aquarius.
2. Life challenges are part of life and only the dead who do not fear that fact. Carlos Slim is a living testament to that. The businessman underwent heart surgery and thankfully came out strong. Since then he has been alive and well.
3. Carlos loves to read past events and this passion grew when he was at school. Some of his best subjects these days are history, cosmography, and math.
4. Who would have thought that a billionaire of this modern age would choose old accounting methods over the use of computer technology? Now we’ve found the exception, Carlos Slim. Although very familiar with the technology, he prefers to keep records manually with books, pen and other writing materials.
5. It is said that if you work on God’s vineyard, He will surely make your own vineyard blossom as seen in Carlos Slim Helu’s shop. The billionaire has stuck to his faith since childhood and is now one of the biggest supporters of Legion of Christ, a Roman Catholic religious institute.
6. Carlos Slim alone accounts for 40 percent of his country’s stock market and his net worth is 6 percent of Mexico’s gross domestic product.
7. He has been in the controversy for wealth just as much as he has received honors and awards. The issue that continues to stir controversy is how he managed to achieve such prosperity in a country where a large percentage of people live in poverty and the average per capita income is no more than $14,500 .
8. Above all, Slim loves charity and spends huge sums of money on humanitarian causes.
