Carlos Slim

Biography

Carlos Slim Helú (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkaɾlos esˈlim eˈlu]; born January 28, 1940) is a Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist.[1][2] From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world.[3][4] He derived his fortune from his extensive holdings in a considerable number of Mexican companies through his conglomerate, Grupo Carso.[5] As of 19 July 2017 he was #6 on Forbes' listing of The World's Billionaires with a net worth estimated at more than $67.9 billion.[6] His conglomerate includes education, health care, industrial manufacturing, transportation, real estate, media, energy, hospitality, entertainment, high-technology, retail, sports, and financial services.[1][2][7][8] He accounts for 40% of the listings on the Mexican Stock Exchange,[7] while his net worth is equivalent to about 6 percent of Mexico’s gross domestic product.[9] Slim was born on January 28, 1940, in Mexico City,[10] to Julián Slim Haddad (born Khalil Salim Haddad Aglamaz) and Linda Helú Atta, both Maronite Catholics from Lebanon.[11][12][13] Slim always knew he wanted to be a businessman, and he began to develop his business and investment acumen at a young age.[4][14] He received business lessons from his father Julián, who taught him finance, management and accounting, teaching him how to read financial statements as well as the importance of keeping accurate financial records, a practice that Slim carries on to this day.[15] At the age of 11, Carlos invested in a government savings bond that taught him about the concept of compound interest. He eventually saved every financial and business transaction he made into a personal ledger book which he keeps to this day.[16] At the age of 12, he made his first stock purchase, by purchasing shares in a Mexican bank.[17] By the age of 15, Slim had become a shareholder in Mexico’s largest bank.[9] At the age of 17, he earned 200 pesos a week working for his father's company.[18] He went on to study civil engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where he also concurrently taught algebra and linear programming.[19][20][21] Though Slim was a civil engineering major, he also displayed an interest in economics. He took economics courses in Chile once he finished his engineering degree.[14] Graduating as a civil engineering major, Slim has stated that his mathematical ability and his background of linear programming was a key factor in helping him gain an edge in the business world, especially when reading financial statements.

Research Interest

Business and management