Top 10 Amazing Facts about Carlos Slim

Mexican businessman Carlos Slim Helú. photo by José Cruz/ABr – Wikimedia commons

Top 10 Amazing Facts about Carlos Slim

One of the wealthiest and most influential persons in the world, according to Forbes Magazine, is the Mexican businessman Carlos Slim. He amassed his wealth by the purchase of several diverse enterprises, which are combined in the conglomerate Grupo Carso. The national press compared him to King Midas.

A variety of industrial sectors, including real estate, construction, telecommunications, transportation, media, and energy, are represented by this business aggregate.

The 82-year-old tycoon still actively engages as the chairman of Telmex, the largest telecommunications firm in Mexico, while having handed over some of the day-to-day management of Grupo Carso to his children.

Carlos Slim Helú was born to Lebanese parents in Mexico City on January 28, 1940. His mother, Linda Helú Atta, was an immigrant from Lebanon. His father, Julián Slim Haddad, emigrated from Lebanon to Mexico at the age of 14 to avoid being enlisted in the Ottoman Empire’s army.

Nour, Alma, Julián, José, Carlos, and Linda were their six children together. Carlos was the fifth.

Here are the top 10 amazing facts about Carlos Slim.

1. He is an engineer by profession

National Autonomous University of Mexico photo by Rzuwig – Wikimedia commons

He continued to the National Autonomous University of Mexico to pursue a degree in civil engineering while concurrently lecturing in algebra and linear programming.

Slim majored in civil engineering but showed a keen interest in economics. After finishing his engineering degree, he studied economics in Chile. Slim, who received his degree in civil engineering, has acknowledged that his aptitude for mathematics and his experience with linear programming gave him a competitive edge.

This was especially true when it came to evaluating the financial statements of potential companies when making business decisions and considering potential investment acquisitions.

He is nicknamed “El Ingeniero” (the engineer) because of this achievement.

2. Slim started investing while he was quite young

He learned basic business practices from his father, from a very early age, and worked in his family’s business as a teenager. After graduating from university in 1961, Slim began his business career as a stock trader in Mexico, often working 14-hour days. In 1965, profits from Slim’s private investments reached US$400,000, enabling him to start the stock brokerage house Inversora Bursátil.

He also began laying the financial groundwork for his eventual conglomerate, Grupo Carso. In 1965, he also acquired Jarritos del Sur, a Mexican bottling and soft drink company. In 1966, worth US$40 million, he established Inmuebles Carso, a real estate agency and holding company.

3. Slim is Mexico’s richest man

Mr Carlos Slim President, Carlos Slim Foundation and Chairman, Grupo Carso photo by ITU Pictures – Wikimedia commons

Slim topped Forbes’ list of richest people in the world in 2010, marking the first time anyone from a developing nation topped the list. He was born in Mexico City, Mexico, but his family is of Lebanese descent.

Carlos Slim is a Mexican-born billionaire investor and famous philanthropist. He currently owns over 200 businesses in a wide variety of industries and has been named by ‘Forbes magazine, as Mexico’s richest man, several years in a row.

4. In Mexico, Slim is “Mr. Monopoly”

A Telmex store in the Plaza Caracol shopping center on Boulevard Francisco Medina Ascensio in the city of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico. photo by Coolcaesar – Wikimedia commons

It’s hard to spend a day in Mexico and not put money in [Slim’s] pocket,” the Wall Street Journal once observed. Without it, you can hardly make a call: 80 per cent of the landlines are under the control of Slim’s phone business Telmex, which was acquired in 1990 on the cheap.

América Móbil, a division of Telmex, manages 70 per cent of the mobile service as well as retail stores, a restaurant chain and an industrial conglomerate. His most famous and influential holdings include his near monopoly over the mobile phone market, in Mexico, which at one point provided over 80% of the mobile services used in that country. 

Slim accounts for 40% of the listings on the Mexican stock exchange.

Carlos Slim learned his first financial lessons from his father, who showed them how to keep a log of their income and expenses. When he was just 12 years old, he opened his first checking account and bought shares of the Mexican National Bank.

5. Slim is known for being thrifty

Slim has always shown exemplary financial prudence. He has spent the last three decades residing in the same modest 6-bedroom house. His little bedroom is “the size of a hotel room in Manhattan.” Carlos Slim regularly drives himself to work despite the high frequency of kidnappings in Mexico.

Rather than living a luxurious life around the world, he likes to enjoy his home country. He wears clothes from his modest store, doesn’t travel very much and doesn’t own a single home outside of Mexico.

6. He is a technophobe

Photo by Trinity Nguyen on Unsplash

Slim doesn’t have a computer at his workplace; instead, he stores all of his financial information on handwritten notes. He frequently makes the joke that he cannot keep track of all the businesses he oversees due to the scale of his large economic empire.

Slim prefers old-school pen and paper to a computer, though he loves to talk about technology.

He is a conventional guy, He owns a laptop but has never used it, he is a paper guy, writes all the time on paper and won’t use electronic gadgets

7. Slim is actively involved in philanthropic works

Slim has expressed firm support for philanthropy and has advised budding entrepreneurs that businessmen must do more than give‍—‌they “should participate in solving problems”.

Slim founded three nonprofit foundations concentrating on Mexico City: one for the arts, education, and health care; one for sports; and one for downtown restoration. In 2019, Forbes put Slim on the list of the world’s most generous philanthropists outside of the US.

Numerous humanitarian endeavours have been undertaken by Slim and his charities. He is well recognized for supporting the advancement of Mexican human potential, sports, and the arts.

Additionally, he has made significant investments through his foundations toward the preservation of biodiversity and the nation’s sustainable growth.

8.  He has been awarded many honours throughout his career

Carlos Slim has been awarded many honours and distinctions throughout his carrier. Among the most memorable ones are:

· ‘Forbes’ magazine has named this billionaire, the richest man in the world, four times. His massive fortune is almost entirely self-made.

· The Medal of Honor for Entrepreneurial Merit was awarded to him in 1985 by the National Chamber of Commerce of Mexico City.

· The National Sports Award, awarded in 2007 and 2008 for his support of sports in Mexico.

· The National Order of the Cedar was awarded in 2008 by the Lebanese government for its philanthropic efforts.

· The “Sorolla Medal” was awarded in 2011 by the Hispanic Society of America for its contributions to art and culture.

· An Honoris Causa Doctorate in Public Service, awarded in 2012 by George Washington University.

· The Great Cross of the Order of Civil Merit and Honor was awarded in 2012 by the Mexican Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and the Red Crescent Societies for his humanitarian efforts.

9. Slim is an avid art collector

Museo Soumaya photo by Simon Grimm – Wikimedia commons

Slim is an avid art collector. He is believed to own the largest number of sculptures by artist Auguste Rodin outside France. One of his daughters runs the  Museo Soumaya in Mexico City, named after his late wife.

10. He loves baseball

New York Yankees logo photo by New York Yankees organization – Wikimedia commons

Carlos Slim is a big fan of sports, particularly baseball, but also track and field and soccer, which he played when he was young. He has been a big patron of sports in Mexico and was twice awarded the National Sports Award.

Although soccer is still Mexico’s favourite sport, Slim is a huge fan of the New York Yankees baseball team. In 1998, he wrote a piece about forgotten historical baseball figures for a magazine in Mexico City.