CARLOS SLIM HELÚ
1940–
Self-made Mexican business tycoon, engineer, and philanthropist Carlos Slim Helú built a fortune from a wide portfolio of interests to become one of the wealthiest people in the world.
As a child, Carlos Slim Helú learned the value of sound accounting and management practice from his father; Slim made his first investment (in a government bond) at age 11 and his first stock purchase at age 12. In 1961, he graduated with a degree in engineering from the University of Mexico and became a stock trader. Amassing large profits from private investments, he used them to open his own brokerage firm in 1965.
Over the next two decades, Slim continued to reinvest in his expanding business empire. During the 1982 Mexican financial crisis, he bought many businesses at reduced prices, making huge gains when the economy recovered. Today his conglomerate, Grupo Carso, spans a variety of fields from education to manufacturing and financial services, and around 40 percent of Mexican Stock Exchange listings are those of companies over which Slim has some control. Renowned for his philanthropy, he has contributed to art and cultural preservation in Mexico City and set up the Carlos Slim Foundation to support health, sport, and education in Latin America.
“To take poor people out of poverty … is very good for the economy, for the country, for society and for business.”
Carlos Slim Helú, 2012
MILESTONES
EARLY INVESTMENTS
Becomes a shareholder in Mexico’s largest bank, in 1955. Makes $400,000 of investment profit by 1965.
BUILDS EMPIRE
Creates a portfolio of companies, the basis of his Grupo Carso conglomerate, in the mid-1960s.
ACQUIRES COMPANIES
Grows his business during 1980s and ’90s by buying assets, reinvesting, and selling them for profit.