Carlos Slim: The Story Behind the Fortune
Carlos Slim was born in Mexico City in 1940 to Lebanese immigrant parents and trained as a civil engineer before moving into business and investing in the 1960s. He built the conglomerate Grupo Carso through the 1980s, buying into candy, tires, mining, construction, retail, and banking while foreign investors were pulling money out of Mexico's troubled economy.
Carlos Slim was born in Mexico City in 1940 to Lebanese immigrant parents and trained as a civil engineer before moving into business and investing in the 1960s. He built the conglomerate Grupo Carso through the 1980s, buying into candy, tires, mining, construction, retail, and banking while foreign investors were pulling money out of Mexico's troubled economy.
His defining move came in 1990, when he led a consortium with SBC and France Télécom that bought the newly privatized national phone company Telmex for $1.76 billion. He later won management control of Telmex outright, and in 2000 relaunched its mobile arm as América Móvil, which grew into the largest mobile-phone operator in Latin America.
Carlos Slim built this fortune from the ground up — a self-made success in telecom & diversified.
He studied at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (civil engineering) and is based in Mexico City.
A few of the highlights on the public record: Born in Mexico City in 1940 to Lebanese immigrant parents; Led the 1990 consortium that bought the privatized Telmex for $1.76 billion; Controls América Móvil, Latin America's largest mobile operator; Long Mexico's richest person, and consistently one of the world's wealthiest.
The journey to get here is well documented. In 1965, started building a personal investment portfolio in Mexican businesses in his mid-20s. In 1980s, assembled the holding company Grupo Carso by buying into Mexican businesses across candy, tires, mining, construction, and retail. In 1990, led a consortium with SBC and France Télécom that purchased Mexico's newly privatized national phone company for $1.76 billion, later winning management control. In 2000, relaunched Telmex's mobile arm, Telcel, as América Móvil, expanding telecom operations across Latin America and the Caribbean.
On net worth alone, the closest company is Germán Larrea ($41.84B) — a reminder of how tightly bunched the very top of the wealth list really is.
Today, Carlos is worth an estimated $100.00B — #13 in the world on our real-time list, a figure that moves with the latest public reporting on his holdings.