Carlos Slim’s Net Worth, Business Breakthroughs and Details Of His Wife & Children

Age/Date of Birth:
28 January 1940
Height:
5 feet, 8 inches (1.73 m)
Ethnicity/Race:
White
Nationality:Mexican
Wife or Girlfriend:Soumaya Domit (m. 1967–1999; her death)
Parents:Father: Julián Slim Haddad
Mother: Linda Helu Atta
Net Worth:$57.9 billion

Carlos Slim Helu is a Mexican self-made business mogul and a diversified investor who was once the richest man in the world from 2010 to 2013. With a current estimated net worth of over $50 billion, Carlos Slim is still one of the world’s richest men and the richest man in Mexico. His earnings, however, dipped by over $27 billion in 2015 making him the year’s big loser.

Here’s How Carlos Slim Launched His Business Career

Born on January 28, 1940, in Mexico City to a successful Lebanese businessman, Carlos Slim began receiving training on the basics of financial management, record keeping and accountability as a child. Thanks to this, Slim at a very early age could read financial statements and at the age of 11, he made his first investment in a government savings bond which exposed him to the technicalities of compound interest.

His father continued to tutor him until his death in 1953 when Slim was just 13 years old but have already learnt the necessary business fundamentals. At 15, he became a shareholder in Mexico’s largest bank. He also worked at his father’s company which was into the real estate and retail business.

And no! Carlos Slim isn’t one of those college dropouts who became billionaires. After high school, Slim who has special liking for mathematics studied Civil Engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He was such a whiz at math that as a student, he tutored others in linear programming and algebra. His love for calculations also influenced his venture into the field of economics. He eventually expanded his knowledge of economics by enrolling in several related courses in Chile.

Carlos Slim

Rather than pursue a job at a construction company, Carlos Slim opted instead to focus on finance. He began working in Mexico City as a stockbroker and at the age of 25, he had saved $400,000 from his endeavours. With that money, Slim established his first business – a brokerage firm he named “Inversora Bursátil”.

A Breakdown of His Net Worth and How He Made His Money

Throughout the 70’s, Carlos Slim continued to expand his business portfolio by making investments in diverse areas from real estate to telecom, mining, auto, construction, airlines, hotels and anything else you can possibly think of. By 1980, Slim had to consolidate all his businesses into the conglomerate Grupo Galas, now Grupo Carso. Slim’s businesses has since dominated the Mexican economy to the point that an average Mexican can scarcely go a day without spending a dime on a Slim-related commodity.

His major breakthrough and debut into the billionaires club came in the midst of the Mexico economic crisis of 1982. Struggling companies became desperate to sell and Slim gladly pounced on the opportunity, buying them at low prices and reselling later at high prices when the economy was back to norm. Slim has since employed this strategy in his numerous business endeavors.

Carlos Slim landed another jackpot in 1990 when the Mexican government began privatizing its major companies. One of those was the landline telephone company Telmex. Slim became one of the initial investors and eventually took over the telecom company via the IPO launch of his conglomerate Grupo Carso. He made his debut appearance on Forbes’ Richest list in 1991 with a net worth of $1.7 billion.

Slim is also the owner of another telecom giant, América Movil. Together with Telmex, Movil is the largest mobile phone carrier in Latin America and they collectively account for over two-thirds of the Mexican’s wealth.

Carlos Slim

Other Prominent Ventures

Carlos Slim owns over 200 companies all over the world and has even confessed to not knowing about some of them.

He owns a 17% majority stake in The New York Times which makes him the largest individual shareholder. His business with the American media corp began in 2009 when he gave them a $250 million loan at the interest rate of 14%.

He also owns the financial venture, “Grupo Financiero Inbursa”, mining company “Minera Frisco”, real estate company “Inmobiliaria Carso” and “IDEAL” an infrastructure development and operating company. IDEAL is an acronym for “Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo en America Latina” which is translated as “Promoter of Development and Employment in Latin America”. Slim founded IDEAL in 2005 after investing in Mexican airline Volaris.

Carlos Slim Current Net Worth and Financial Standing

Carlos Slim has been criticized for his practice of monopoly which surges unemployment rate and prices. Though Slim hasn’t been overly bothered about the critics, his América Móvil which is the focus of the criticisms, took a hit in 2015 as a result of new stricter anti-monopoly rules and reforms which forced the company to reduce its market share below 50%.

América Móvil also performed poorly in the market. Its US-traded stock prices also fell as a result of the Mexican peso depreciation against the dollar which per Forbes is blamed on the global fall in oil prices.

His bank, Grupo Financiero Inbursa also experienced a fall in share prices while the performance of his mining company was also affected as a result of the fall in gold prices.

All these saw Carlos Slim’s earnings dip by $27.1 billion, robbing him of his 2015 best spot and instead, landed him in the world’s second-richest man position. After all, Carlos Slim is currently worth $57.9 billion.

Carlos Slim

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His Properties and other Assets

Like Warren Buffet, Carlos Slim is known to be thrifty and doesn’t indulge himself in extravagance; he doesn’t own such luxury collections as a yacht or private jet. However, he enjoys Cuban cigars and is an avid art collector. His collections worth over $800 million are displayed in his iconic Museo Soumaya. The museum also houses his over 380 piece of Auguste Rodin’s work which makes him the largest private collector.

Unlike his fellow billionaires who splurge millions in estate residences, Slim has been living in the same 6 bedroom house in Lomas de Chapultepec, Mexico City for over 40 years and doesn’t own any private property outside Mexico. However, his real estate firm owns several residential and office buildings in the US. One of such is a mansion in New York’s 5th Avenue which he bought in 2010 and is now on the market for $80 million.

Carlos like his fellow billionaires is active in philanthropy. He has publicly stated that one of his goals is to alleviate poverty in Mexico. However, the billionaire investor believes that the best approach to achieve his aim is to establish long-lasting businesses rather than go around donating money like Santa Claus.

Meet Carlos Slim’s Family Members

Carlos Slim
Carlos Slim with his Children and Grandchildren

Carlos Slim has got quite a large family around which he obviously keeps his business empire rolling. Both his children and grandchildren to whom he has gradually been transferring his wealth play key roles in his telecoms-to-banking empire. Recently, the Mexican business magnate placed his two grandsons on boards of his companies which was described as a major move in the succession of one of the world’s largest family business empires. The billionaire actually prefers to leave his kids with the responsibility of managing his companies than just enriching their bank accounts.

Who was Slim’s Wife, Soumaya Domit?

  • Full Name: Soumaya Domit Gemayel
  • Date of Birth: 1948 (died 1999)
  • Occupation: Philanthropist
  • Spouse: Carlos Slim (m. 1966 until death in 1999)
  • No. of Children: 6
image source

Soumaya Domit was a Mexican-born Lebanese woman who Carlos Slim married in 1967. During her lifetime, Soumaya involved herself in several charities and philanthropic acts that provided assistance for needy students, budding artists, orphans and the sick.

Domit suffered kidney failure as a young woman and had a kidney transplant at 30. Following her death from the ailment, her husband built a private non-profit museum (Museo Soumaya) in her memory. Carlos actually learnt to love the arts from Soumaya. Their marriage which lasted for about 33 years was a blissful one until Domit’s death in 1999. Following his wife’s death, Slim publicly declared that he will not remarry.

Carlos’ marriage with Soumaya produced six children – three sons and three daughters, namely:

Carlos Slim (son)

  • Full Name: Carlos Slim Domit
  • Date of Birth: February 28, 1967
  • Occupation: Business Executive
  • Spouse: María Elena Torruco Garza (m. 2010)
  • No. of Children: 3
Carlos Slim son
image source

The eldest child and son of Carlos Slim, he was named after his dad. Carlos is Lebanese by origin but was born in Mexico. He studied Business Administration at the Universidad Anáhuac. Carlos has been playing key roles in his father’s businesses, particularly working at the moment, as the chairman of his most prominent companies – Grupo Carso, America Movil, Telmex, and Grup Sanborns.

Carlos Slim Domit married Maria Garza in 2010. The couple have three children together.

Marco Antonio (Son)

  • Full Name: Marco Antonio Slim Domit
  • Date of Birth: April 30, 1968
  • Occupation: Business Executive
image source

Marco is Carlo Slim and Soumaya Domit’s second child and son. He was born in Mexico and earned a degree from his older brother’s alma mater, Universidad Anahuac. Among other key portfolio’s in his father’s businesses, Marco holds the position of Chairman of Grupo Financiero Inbursa.

Patrick Slim (Son)

  • Full Name: Patrick Slim Domit
  • Date of Birth: May 14, 1969
  • Occupation: Business Executive
Carlos Slim son
image source

Patrick is the third child and youngest son of Carlos Slim. Just like his older brothers, he was born in Mexico and earned a bachelor from the Universidad Anahuac. Alongside handling several other high profile responsibilities in the Carlos Slim business empire, Patrick works as the CEO of Grupo Sanborns.

Vanessa Paola (Daughter)

  • Full Name: Vanessa Paola Slim Domit
  • Occupation: Business Director, Entrepreneur
  • Spouse: Arturo Elías Ayub
Carlos Slim and daughter, Vanessa
image source

Vanessa is Carlos Slim’s third child and first daughter. She was also born in Mexico. Although Vanessa does not occupy prominent executive positions in her father’s businesses the way her brothers do, she has inherited a good share of the family’s wealth. In 2013, her dad bequeathed her with 71.13% of his total shares (worth around $1.6 billion) in Grupo Financiero Inbursa. The gift reportedly increased her ownership stake in the company from 4.38% to 11.33%.

Maria Soumaya (Daughter)

  • Full Name: Maria Soumaya Slim Domit
image source

Soumaya is the second daughter and fifth child of Carlos Slim. She was named after her mum. Just like his other children, Soumaya handles a number of responsibilities in the Slim empire. Among other positions, she serves on the board of Inversora Carso SA de CV.

Johanna Monique (Daughter)

  • Full Name: Johanna Monique Slim Domit
image source

Johanna is the third daughter and youngest child of Carlos Slim and his wife, Soumaya Domit. She serves on the board of several of her father’s businesses and organisations including Fundación Carlos Slim Helú AC, Grupo Sanborns SAB de CV, Inversora Carso SA de CV and Sanborn Hermanos SA.

Profile Summary
First Name:Carlos
Last Name:Slim
Also Known As:
Slim Helú
Sex/Gender:
Male
Profession:
Business magnate, investor
Famous For:CEO of telecom giants Telmex and América Móvil
Colleges/Universities Attended:
National Autonomous University of Mexico
Educational Qualifications:
A degree in Civil Engineering
Religion:
Christanity
Birthday & Zodiac
Age/Date of Birth:
28 January 1940
Zodiac Sign:Aquarius
Birth Place:
Mexico City, Mexico
Nationality:Mexican
Ethnicity/Race:
White
Country of Residence:
Mexico
Physical Attributes
Height:
5 feet,8inches (1.73 m)
Weight:
90 kg (198 lbs)
Eye Colour:
Light brown
Hair Color:
Grey
Other Body Measurements:
Unknown
Relationships
Marital Status:
Married
Spouse/Partner:
Soumaya Domit (m. 1967–1999; her death)
Family and Relatives
Father:
Julián Slim Haddad
Mother:Linda Helu Atta
Children:
6 children:
Son(s): Marco Antonio Slim Domit, Patrick Slim Domit, Carlos Slim Domit
Daughter(s): Johanna Slim Domit, Vanessa Slim Domit, Soumaya Slim Domit
Siblings:Brother(s): José Slim Helú, Julián Slim Helú
Sister(s): Nour Slim Helú, Alma Slim Helú, Linda Slim Helú
Other Relatives:
Elías Slim Haddad (Uncle)
Pedro Slim Haddad (Uncle)
José Helú (Grandfather)
Wadiha Atta (Grndmother)
Net Worth
Estimated Net Worth:
$57.9 billion
Salary:Unknown
Source of Wealth:
diverse sources, including : Grupo Carso, Inbursa, Telcel, Telmex, and Sanborns

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