With more than two thousand billionaires in the world, Carlos Slim, who was at the same time the richest man in the world, is exactly in the 20th place at the beginning of 2019. A man with a thick pocket thanks to his huge investments which affect manufacturing, transportation, real estate, etc., Slim began his journey as a businessman from the age of 10 until he became a self-made billionaire himself.
the biography
Carlos Slim’s story began with the story of his father, Khalil Salim Haddad Aglamaz, who was originally from Lebanon but sent to Mexico in 1902. During his father’s time, young people were drafted into the Ottoman army and to protect him from this fate, he was fired by his Lebanese Christian. family and upon his arrival in Mexico, he adopted the name Julián Slim Haddad. On January 28, 1940, Linda Helú Atta, Julian’s young wife, gave birth to their son, Carlos Slim Helú. Growing up, Carlos quickly took an interest in business, as it was his father’s business. The eldest Slim encouraged his son, who was only 10 at the time, not only to learn, but also to read books.
Carlos lost his father when he was just 13 years old, but by then he had watched his father build a business that ranged from nothing to over $100,000 and also learned a lot from him. So he continued to work in his father’s business. Slim had already bought his first stock when he was only 12 years old.
For his education, Carlos Slim studied Civil Engineering from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. But, being steeped in entrepreneurship, Carlos started teaching algebra and linear programming while still a student to help him earn money in school. He graduated in 1961 and got a job as a stockbroker, although he still had his own investment, which just 4 years later reached $400,000. It was thanks to this that he created his own investment company, Inversora Bursátil.
Although he continued to accumulate stock with different companies. Its big break came in the 1980s with the fall in oil prices, which sent the country’s economy headed for the gutters. It was during this time that Slim amassed much of his wealth as the depression continued in the country. One thing he kept doing that kept him going was buying undervalued companies and selling them after building their value.
In the years that followed, the investor purchased Teléfonos de México which gave him a monopoly of the telecommunications market in Mexico and became the source of much of his wealth. In the years that followed, he invested in many other areas, including real estate, media, energy and hospitality.
Carlos Slim’s Net Worth
In 2010, Carlos Slim was the richest man in the world, and he remained there until 2013, when he was overtaken by Bill Gates. Nevertheless, he went on to be among the world’s billionaires and Mexico’s richest man.
In 2019, his net worth was valued at $62.3 billion, making him the 20th richest man in the world. His family owns control of Latin America’s largest mobile telecommunications company, America Movil, while he owns many other things, including 17% of the New York Times.
For a man with his kind of fortune, it’s very easy to expect Slim to have the best of anything money can buy, including houses, cars, and more. Among his cars is a Bentley Continental Flying Spur worth $300,000.
Along with numerous properties, Slim has a house located in Lomas de Chapultepec in Mexico City as well as another in New York which he bought in 2010 for $44 million.
wife and children
When he was 24 and still growing up in business, Carlos Slim met Soumaya Domit Gemayel, who, like him, had a mother of Lebanese-Mexican ancestry who also happened to be friends. In 1966, Slim and Soumaya, who were the love of his life, got married and had Carlos, Marco Antonio, Patrick, Soumaya, Vanessa and Johanna as their six children.
The two remained fast friends and companions until Soumaya Domit Gemayel died in 1999 at the age of 51 following complications from a kidney problem. In her honor, Slim decided not to remarry since he had known her since 1964, when they first met.