Carlos Slim Helú was born in Mexico City on January 28, 1940. He is a Mexican businessman and one of the richest men in the world, with a fortune estimated at $60 billion.
The son of Julián Slim Haddad and Linda Helú, Carlos Slim earned a degree in civil engineering from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where he presented a thesis titled Applications of Linear Programming in Civil Engineering.
In the early 1980s, amid a severe economic crisis in Mexico and a wave of capital flight, Slim and his investment group made significant acquisitions in the country, buying undervalued assets and companies in various sectors.
Slim’s business activity diversified widely over the years. In 1997, he acquired shares of Apple Inc. shortly before the launch of the iMac, which greatly increased the value of his investment. That same year, he purchased Prodigy, a U.S.-based internet service provider. Under his leadership, Prodigy became a dominant platform in Latin America, eventually partnering with MSN to launch a Spanish-language portal, which became the number one website in Mexico.
In 2008, Slim bought 9 million shares of The New York Times, equivalent to a 6.4% stake, for approximately $123 million. He described the move as a strictly financial investment. In sports, his Grupo Carso acquired Spain’s Real Oviedo soccer team in 2012 and also took a 30% stake in two Mexican football clubs: Club León and Club Pachuca.
Slim is a widower. His wife, Soumaya Domit, passed away on March 7, 1999. He has six children, three of whom are actively involved in managing his business empire.
By 2008, Carlos Slim was ranked as the second-richest man in the world, just behind Bill Gates. However, this wealth generated controversy given the economic disparities in Mexico, where per capita income was around $10,300 and nearly 46% of the population lived in poverty.
Slim has used part of his wealth to support philanthropic initiatives, particularly in health, education, and sports. He has donated nearly $100 million to combat poverty, in collaboration with former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Canadian businessman Frank Giustra.
In 2015, Forbes named him one of the most powerful people in the world. Although his wealth experienced a 22% decline by the end of that year, it rebounded. By April 2017, his fortune had increased again to approximately $60 billion, ranking him once more among the richest individuals on the planet.