From selling candy to being the richest person in the world: how Carlos Slim made his fortune

Born into a Lebanese family, the Mexican Carlos Slim entered the world of business since very little.

Life presented him with several adventures, but, through study, skill and learning, he managed to overcome them and, finally, became the richest person in the world.

A business family: the origins of Carlos Slim

When I was just 14 years old, Julian Slim Haddad He emigrated from Lebanon to the City of Mexico to escape the clutches of the Ottoman Empire. Although the bet was risky, since he did not even speak Spanish, he knew how to progress and founded, together with his brother, “East Star”a grocery store which soon became one of the most important in the country’s capital.

But from 1910, due to the outbreak of the Mexican Revolutionthe outlook became complicated for foreign businessmen. Given this, Slim found the solution in property marketing: He bought old mansions, which no one dared to acquire due to political and economic uncertainty, he revalued them and then sold them.

Julián Slim Haddad, Carlos’s father, emigrated to Mexico to escape the Roman Empire. Photo: Carlos Slim page

Slim’s success was such that, for 1920had several companies and real estate distributed throughout the city, whose combined value was estimated at $100,000.

In 1926, he married Linda Helualso of Lebanese descent and with whom, in just over a decade, he had six children. On January 28, 1940, Linda gave birth to the second to last: Carlos Slim Helú.

The father of the family decided teach your children about business since they were very little. He gave everyone a notebook, which he supervised weekly, where they had to write down income and expenses. That is to say: the now renowned businessman has been taking stock since he was a child.

When he was only 10 years old, Carlos discovered a place where they sold candies wholesale. Given this, it occurred to him to buy candy and resell them outside his house.

Incredibly, the little guy made very good profits. Thanks to them and his economic knowledge, in less than two years, he opened a checkbook and bought shares of the National Bank of Mexico.

Linda Helú with five of her children, including Carlos Slim. Photo: Carlos Slim page

Noticing his son’s entrepreneurial spirit, Julián decided to teach him to read financial documents, so that he could learn to interpret what was the best action to take with his holdings. So then, Carlos was not even of age when he had already managed to have his savings.

But in 1953, the little boy suffered death of his fatherwhich happened suddenly. For this, had to take over the company and his family.

So, he invested all his capital to support his father’s business, and he had to learn to live modestly with his mother and brothers.

This is how Carlos spent his life, until he graduated from school and began studying Civil Engineering in the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

At that institution, while studying, he taught algebra and linear programming classes. And at the same time that he did all this, he always remained active in the financial market.

Finally, in 1961 and after presenting his thesis titled “Applications of Linear Programming in Civil Engineering”, he managed to graduate from his degree.

After graduating from university, Carlos Slim founded Inbursa. Photo: Carlos Slim page

Four years after graduating, at the age of 25, he founded a stock investment company called Inbursa. Through it, he did something similar to what, decades before, his father had done: bought industrial companies and revalued them.

With the profits obtained, Slim reinvested in the same company or expanded into other industries or sectors.

Thanks to this method, he acquired a large amount of companies from various sectorsincluding a bottling company and a calendar producer. Likewise, he created and presided over several companies dedicated to the real estate and construction sectors.

By 1966, Carlos had achieved an economic situation that allowed him to support himself and, then, he married Soumaya Domit Gemayelwith whom over the years he would have 6 children.

Carso and América Móvil, the pillars of its fortune

The businessman continued to grow and diversify his actions until in 1980, finally, brought together all its companies in the Carso groupa conglomerate that encompasses businesses in the fields of construction, infrastructure, energy and research, and which would soon become one of the largest in Latin America.

With this new company, Slim continued his old practice: buy cheap, revalue and sell again. Thus, Carso expanded greatly, starting from real estate to including tobacco companies.

In 1980, Carlos Slim created the Carso group. Photo: EFE/ Mario Guzmán

In 1982, due to the economic crisis in Mexico, many investors left, but Slim, just as his father had done before the Mexican Revolution, continued betting on the country and decided buy companies that were in crisis.

Carlos himself, years later, said: “If my father, in the midst of the revolution, with the nation shaken, without yet having a family, being a foreigner and without the roots that time gives you, trusted the country, how could I not?”

Again, with the same methodology, Slim managed to overcome the difficulties and, by the end of the decade, he had accumulated a important fortune and he was one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Mexico.

It was then that he began his business in the United States, investing in well-known brands such as the chain of Denny’s coffee shops and that of chocolates Hershey’s. At the same time, he bought several insurance companies, which he later grouped into Inbursa Seguros.

In 1990, after President Carlos Salinas de Gortari announced the privatization process of State services, Slim, in association with two foreign companies, acquired 53% of Telmex sharesso Carso expanded into the telecommunications sector.

Auditorium of Telmex, the company that Slim acquired in 1990. Photo: EFE/Francisco Guasco

In addition, the businessman’s group founded Telcel, another communications company, but for cell phones.

The Mexican did not stop increasing his fortune and, in 1991, he appeared for the first time in the Forbes list of billionaires. However, at the end of that decade, Two events would complicate his well-being.

The first occurred in 1997, when he had to undergo surgery in a open heart surgery in a hospital in Houston, Texas. While the operation was finishing, a valve in the organ broke and the businessman suffered intense bleeding for which was on the verge of death for 24 hours.

Finally, Carlos managed to survive, but two years later, he would receive another unexpected blow: the death of his wife.

Affected by tragedies, Slim He gradually moved away from the executive management of his companiesand delegated that role to his sons Carlos, Patrick and Marco Antonio, who inherited the main position at Telmex, Carso and Inbursa, respectively. Meanwhile, he continued as president of Telmex, reserving the last word on important matters.

Due to personal problems, Slim stepped away from the executive management of his companies. Photo: ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP

Once again, however, the Mexican would manage to recover and, in 2000, founded America Movilthe telecommunications company that brought together Telmex and Telcel and which became its most important business.

That same year, Carlos and his son-in-law, Arturo Elías Ayub, came up with the idea that customers could, instead of paying monthly, buy the cellular service minutes they needed.

Then, América Móvil introduced the credit system for prepaid cardwhich soon became popular throughout Latin America and multiplied the company’s customer base by 66%.

Likewise, América Móvil knew how to take advantage of the dotcom crisis to acquire the companies that went bankrupt and repeat Slim’s usual tactic: buy, fix and sell.

The richest man in the world for four years

Already in 2007, some sources estimated that Carlos Slim was the richest person in the world. However, it was only in 2010 when Forbes recognized him this status, for which, with a fortune of 53.5 billion dollarsdisplaced Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

Therefore, Slim became the first non-American person to be the richest person in the world, and he remained in that position by four consecutive yearsuntil 2013 inclusive.

Despite the above, and as was customary in Slim’s life, an event would complicate his business.

Carlos Slim was affected by the reform of Mexico’s telecommunications law. Photo: Archive

In 2012, the Government of Mexico approved a reform of the telecommunications lawwhich established sanctions for those who had a dominant position, which obviously affected the businessman.

Specifically, he was forced to reduce América Móvil’s participation in the sector by up to 50%, so he had to sell several of his resources and, in addition, he was forced to organize the Carso group into 4 different companies: Sanborns, Carso Infraestructura y Construction, Condumex and Carso Energy.

But Slim didn’t stop. To counteract its partial withdrawal from the telecommunications market, continued to diversify its investments.

In 2008, for example, it bought 6.4% of the American newspaper The New York Timesfor an estimated value of 123 million dollars. Another example is the purchase of 35% of the shares of the Spanish soccer team. Real Oviedo and 30% of the Mexican teams León y Pachuca.​

Today, at 85 years old, the Mexican magnate continues with his business activity, although his efforts and main work are in improve employment, health and education in Mexico and Latin America. He does this through his companies, but also through foundations, such as the one that bears his name.

Through his foundation, Slim has carried out various charitable works. Photo: Reuters/Carlos Jasso

Slim’s philanthropic work has earned him numerous recognitionsamong which are the Enrique V. Iglesias Prize, the Dwigth D. Eisenhower Prize, the International Recognition Award and a UNESCO medal.

As for your fortunasince 2020, has managed to grow steadily.

Currently, with a heritage of 105.6 billion dollars According to Forbes, Carlos Slim is the richest person in Latin America and is ranked 19th among the largest fortunes in the world. The little candy seller has indeed made progress.