Carlos Slim Helu Aglamaz (born January 28, 1940 in Mexico City) is a Mexican businessman. Carlos Slim Helu is a Mexican entrepreneur and businessman involved in a varied group of companies that include telecommunications, retail, banking and insurance, technology, and auto parts manufacturing businesses. He is the wealthiest Mexican man, the richest Latin American, and one of the top ten richest men in the world. His father Yusef Salim Haddad and mother Linda Helu were of Lebanese decent. Carlos was the 5th of 6 children. He studied engineering at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
The financial success that Slim Helu has achieved has been from finding undervalued companies and making them profitable. Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex) was acquired during a privatization period in 1990 of the Mexican government. Carlos was criticized for raising phone call costs soon after purchasing the business, but he went on to improve phone services in Mexico with the company offering local and long distance calls, mobile phone services, Internet services, and a telephone directory.
On July 3, 2007, a report by Mexican financial journalist Eduardo Garcia indicated that Slim’s wealth had exceeded that of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, making him the world’s wealthiest person. Recent gains in his shares in the America Movil group are largely responsible for his recent increase in wealth, boosting his fortune to an estimated 67.8 billion dollars compared with the estimated fortune of 59.2 billion dollars for Bill Gates.
He 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 (Previously Philip Morris) Group (resigned in April, 2006) and Alcatel. He was on the Board of Directors of SBC Communications until July 2004 to devote more time to the World Education & Development Fund, which focussed on infrastructure, health and education projects. He is also the Majority Shareholder of CompUSA. In 1997, just before the company introduced its famous iMac line, Slim bought 3% of Apple Computer’s stock, which has skyrocketed over the years.[3]
He built an important Mexican financial-industrial empire, Grupo Carso, which owns, among other companies the CompUSA electronic retail chain. 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.