Carlos Slim

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Carlos Slim
Born	January 28, 1940 (1940-01-28) (age 69) Mexico City, Mexico
Nationality	Mexican[1]
Occupation	Chairman and CEO, Telmex, Telcel and América Móvil
Net worth	▼US$35 billion (2009).[2]
Religious beliefs	Maronite Catholic[3]

Carlos Slim Helú (Arabic:كارلوس سليم حلو) (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkaɾlos slim eˈlu]), simply known as Carlos Slim (born January 28, 1940) is a Mexican businessman and philanthropist largely focused on the telecommunications industry. He is currently the third wealthiest person in the world with a net worth of around US$35 billion through his holdings.^[2]

Slim has a substantial influence over the telecommunications industry in Mexico and much of Latin America. He controls Teléfonos de México (Telmex), Telcel and América Móvil companies. Though he maintains an active involvement in his companies, his three sons — Carlos, Marco Antonio and Patrick Slim Domit — head them on a day-to-day basis.

Contents 1 Early life 2 World's third richest person 3 Achievements and directorships 4 Telecom leadership 5 Media 6 Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo 7 Criticism 8 Philanthropy 9 Awards 10 See also 11 References 12 External links

[edit] Early life

Slim was born in Mexico City, Mexico. His father, Julián Slim, a Maronite Catholic, immigrated from Lebanon at the age of 14. In 1911, Julián established a dry goods store called La Estrella del Oriente (Star of the Orient) and purchased real estate in downtown Mexico City. He and his wife, also Lebanese but born in Mexico, had six children, of whom Carlos was the youngest boy. Julián's wife is Linda Helú Atta who was born in Parral, Chihuahua to José Helú and Wadiha Atta.

Slim is the surname of Carlos' father Julián, who was called Youssef Salim before moving to Mexico, upon which he changed his first name to Julián and altered his surname to Slim. He officially became Julián Slim Haddad by adding Haddad, his mother's surname, according to the Spanish-language naming customs. Carlos Slim studied engineering at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He married Soumaya Domit, also a Lebanese-Mexican, in 1967; the couple had six children and were married for 32 years until Domit died of a kidney ailment in 1999. The youngest daughter, Johanna, is married to Arturo Elías Ayub who is a board member of some of Slim's companies.

[edit] World's third richest person

On March 11, 2009, Forbes ranked Slim as the world's third-richest person, behind Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and ahead of Lawrence Ellison.^[2] Since last year Slim lost US$25 billion.

On March 5, 2008, Forbes ranked Slim as the world's second-richest person, behind Warren Buffett and ahead of Bill Gates.^[4] During some parts of 2007, several major financial publications had ranked Slim as the richest person on Earth.

On August 8, 2007, Fortune reported that Slim had overtaken Gates as the world's richest man. Slim's estimated fortune soared to US$68 billion, based on the value of his public holdings at the end of July. Gates' net worth was estimated to be at least US$58 billion.^[5][6]

On August 4, 2007, The Wall Street Journal ran a cover story profiling Slim. The article said, "While the market value of his stake in publicly traded companies could decline at any time, at the moment he is probably wealthier than Bill Gates".^[5] On March 29, 2007, Slim surpassed Warren Buffett as the world's second richest person with an estimated net worth of US$53.1 billion compared to Buffett's US$52.4 billion.^[7] According to The Wall Street Journal, Slim credits part of his ability to discover investment opportunities early to the writings of his friend, futurist author Alvin Toffler.^[5]

[edit] Achievements and directorships

Slim has been vice-president of the Mexican Stock Exchange and president of the Mexican Association of Brokerage Houses. He was the first president of the Latin-American Committee of the New York Stock Exchange Administration Council, and was in office from 1996 through 1998.

He was on the Board of Directors of the Altria Group (previously Philip Morris) (resigned in April 2006) and Alcatel. Slim currently sits on the Board of Directors for Philip Morris International. He was on the Board of Directors of SBC Communications until July 2004 to devote more time to the World Education & Development Fund, which focused on infrastructure, health and education projects. In 1997, just before the company introduced its iMac line, Slim bought three percent of Apple Computer's stock, which has skyrocketed over the years.

He built the large Mexican financial-industrial conglomerate Grupo Carso which owns, among other companies, the now bankrupt CompUSA electronic retail chain. On December 8, 2007, Grupo Carso announced that the remaining 103 CompUSA stores would be either liquidated or sold, bringing an end to the struggling company.^[8] After 28 years he became the Honorary Lifetime Chairman of the business. He is also Chairman of Teléfonos de Mexico, América Móvil, and Grupo Financiero Inbursa.

Slim is said to have shown an interest in buying the Honda Formula One team.^[9] Slim would overtake the billionaire owner of Force India, Vijay Mallya, to become the richest team owner in a sport famous for being a playground for the super wealthy.

Additionally, Slim has recently made it known in the Mexican press that he will soon announce his intentions to acquire a Major League Soccer franchise to be located in Queens, New York that will initially be set up in the second-tier United Soccer Leagues.

[edit] Telecom leadership

Slim gained notoriety when he led a group of investors that included France Télécom and Southwestern Bell Corporation in buying Telmex and Telnor from the Mexican government in 1990 in a public tender during the presidency of Carlos Salinas. Today, 90 percent of the telephone lines in Mexico are operated by Telmex.^[10] The mobile company, Telcel, which Slim also controls, operates almost eighty percent of all the country's cellphones. These operations have financed Slim's expansion abroad. Over the past five years, his wireless carrier América Móvil has bought cellphone companies across Latin America, and is now the region's dominant company, with more than 100 million subscribers.

Slim was once MCI's largest shareholder, with 13 percent ownership. On April 11, 2005, The Wall Street Journal announced that he had sold his stake in MCI to Verizon Communications.

[edit] Media

On September 10, 2008 Slim announced that he had purchased a 6.4 percent common-stock stake in The New York Times Company, making him the largest shareholder not related to the company's owners, the Sulzberger family.^[11]

Then, on January 19, 2009, the financially-troubled Times Company announced that it had accepted a $250 million loan from Slim.^[12] While the loan will help ease the company's cash flow problems, it does not come close to eliminating the Times Company's $1.1 billion debt.^[12] The company's continuing financial problems and Slim's ongoing interest in its work, as evidenced by his two interventions in the course of five months, has led to speculation that he might be contemplating an outright takeover of the Times Company.^[13] A spokesman for Slim told reporters in January 2009 that the Times loan was an investment opportunity "that makes financial sense."^[14]

[edit] Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo

He leads Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo en America Latina SAB de CV (IDEAL - roughly translated as "Promoter of Development and Employment in Latin America"), a Mexico-based company primarily engaged in infrastructure development. IDEAL is active in transportation, crude oil and gas, power, water, real estate and technology. Within these sectors, the company performs as a concessionaire of highways, hydroelectric plants projects, electronic toll collection systems and ports. It is also engaged in the exploration, production, transport, refinement and distribution of crude oil and gas mainly through offshore oil platforms for deep waters. Additionally, it is engaged in the construction and operation of water treatment plants, investments and development of the urban and rural properties, primarily in the commercial, health and education sectors. The company’s main subsidiaries are Desarollo de America Latina SA de CV and Promotora del Desarollo de America Latina SA de CV.

[edit] Criticism

The Mexican magnate's rising fortune has caused a good deal of controversy because it has been amassed in a Developing nation where per capita income does not surpass $14,500 a year and nearly 17% of the population lives in poverty.^[15] Critics claim he is a monopolist, pointing to Telmex’s control of 90% of the Mexican landline telephone market. Slim's wealth is the equivalent of roughly 2% of Mexico's annual economic output.^[16] Telmex, which is 49.1% owned by Slim and his family, charges among the highest fees in the world, says the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.^[17]

According to Professor Celso Garrido, an economist at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Slim's domination of his country's conglomerates chokes off growth of smaller companies, resulting in a shortage of good jobs and driving many Mexicans to seek better lives north of the Rio Grande.^[18]

Slim says he is unfazed by the criticism: "When you live for others' opinions, you are dead. I don't want to live thinking about how I'll be remembered." He also claims indifference about his ranking and says he has no interest in becoming the world's richest person. When asked to explain his sudden increase in wealth at a press conference soon after Forbes annual billionaire rankings were published, he reportedly said, "The stock market goes up ... and down," and noted that his fortune could quickly drop.^[16]

[edit] Philanthropy

In 2000, Slim organized the Fundación del Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México A.C. (Mexico City Historic Downtown Foundation), whose objective is to revitalize and rescue Mexico City's historic downtown to enable more people to live, work and find entertainment in this area. He has been Chairman of the Executive Committee for the Restoration of the Historic Center since 2001.

He heads the Latin America Development Fund project, which has a budget of over $10 billion to fund cultural projects throughout Latin America. Slim, through the "Alfredo Harp Helú Foundation", gave a US$5.5 million gift to the endowment of the National Polytechnic Institute, the second largest Mexican university by enrollment and one of the most important research universities in Latin America.^[19]

[edit] Awards

Slim has been awarded the Entrepreneurial Merit Medal of Honor from Mexico's Chamber of Commerce. He is a "gold patron" of the American Academy of Achievement,^[20] and the Belgian government awarded him the Leopold II Commander Meda, CEO of the year in 2003 by Latin Trade magazine and one year later CEO of the decade by the same magazine.

[edit] See also

• Lists of billionaires

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Carlos Slim

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Carlos Slim Helú

• Carlos Slim Helú Official Website
• America Movil Corporate Site
• Telcel In The USA
• The World's Richest People: Slim's Chance Forbes article (2007-03-26)
• Forbes Billionaires List (2006)
• Telmex Corporate Site
• TelNor Corporate Site
• Top Business Entrepreneurs Carlos Slim Helu Profile
• Latin Business Chronicle Latin American Billionaires
• Third-richest man to give away part of fortune Sydney Morning Herald article
• Corruption in Mexico City by S.I. Marcos, 2003, day of the Mexican flag
• Once Upon a Time in Norte America: The Rise of Carlos Slim Bro Waha, Los Angeles, March 2007
• Lawrence Wright, Profiles, “Slim’s Time,” The New Yorker, June 1, 2009, p. 52

Persondata
NAME	Slim Helú, Carlos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Telcom magnate
DATE OF BIRTH	January 28, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH	Mexico City, Mexico
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH