The Story behind Carlos Slim Helu, the Business Magnate

Carlos Slim Helu

Carlos slim Helu is a Mexican business magnate currently the second richest man in the world as ranked by Forbes(July 2015). On March 2010, Carlos overtook Gates and buffet and became the world’s number one richest man with a net worth of 53.5 billion. He later fell to the second position in May 2013 due to a massive fall in América Móvil’s stock. He currently has an estimated net worth of $77.1 billion with most of his worth in the telecommunication industry. He is currently the chief executive of the two giant telecommunication companies Telmex and América Móvil. Telmex is a Mexican telecommunication company that owns 90% of the telephone lines in Mexico City and 80% of the lines in Mexico. Slim currently owns 49.1% of telmex. Currently, Slim’s América Móvil controls 70% of the mobile phone market in Mexico, and 80% of landlines.

His father, Julián Slim Haddad (Lebanese), was a business tycoon who taught Carlos how to read financial sheets and keep accurate records. Carlos has practiced this throughout his entire life and he even currently prefers keeping his data in notebooks instead of computer. He doesn’t have a computer in his office.  Carlos started following his father’s investment footsteps at age 11. He made his first investment at age 11, in a government saving bond. At age 12 he purchased his first stock by purchasing shares in a Mexican bank.

Carlos is a graduate of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, School of Engineering, where he studied Civil Engineering. “I am a man of numbers, from when I was very young, and that's why I selected engineering” Carlos disclosed this in an interview he had with academy of achievement. He believed his mathematical prowess gave him a key advantage in the business world.

He started his career as a stock trader in Mexico after graduating from college in 1961.  In 1965 his cash flow from investments reached $400,000 which helped him found the stock brokerage Inversora Bursátil. It also helped him lay the financial groundwork for Grupo Carso. According to an interview he had with academy of achievement he and his brother bought a bottling company of soft drinks in two states, Morenos and Guerrero in 1965. He also formed a construction company with a classmate in the same year.  At age 25, carlos built the foundations of Grupo Carso which was legally incorporated in January 1966. The name carso was coined from the first three letters of his name Carlos and the first two letters  Soumaya - his wife's name.

He is an intelligent businessman known for purchasing troubled assets at depressed prices and reselling them later at attractive prices. According to Slim He looks at the potential development of a company and buys it at low price and in bad condition. In 1982 the economic crises in Mexico made Carlos and his grupo Carso to take advantage of depressed companies by acquiring massive shares in different industries at depressed valuation. One of the investments that brought huge cash flow was the Cigatam. They used returns from this portfolio to invest in different opportunities. In 1996, he purchased a small stake in Prodigy when the company had fewer than 200,000 subscribers. In 1997, he made an outright purchase of Progidy for $100million in cash and in $150 million in debt consumption. Slim is using Pogidy as the official ISP of telmex in Mexico. 

He served as the first Chairman of the "Latin American Committee" of the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange. He was a member of the board of directors of Altria (previously Philip Morris Companies), Vice Chairman of the Mexican Stock Exchange, Chairman of the Mexican Association of Brokerage Firms, Board Member for SBC Communications, Inc.