Carlos Slim – Biography, Net Worth, Wife, Children, House and Cars

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With more than two thousand billionaires in the world, Carlos Slim who was at a time the richest man in the world sits at exactly the 20th spot in the start of 2019. A man with fat pocket thanks to his overwhelming investments that cuts across manufacturing, transportation, real estate, and much more, Slim began his journey as a businessman since the age of 10 until he drove himself to become a self-made billionaire.

Biography

The story of Carlos Slim began with the story of his father, Khalil Salim Haddad Aglamaz who was originally from Lebanon but was sent to Mexico in 1902. At the time of his father, youths were drafted into the Ottoman Army and to protect him from such fate, he was sent away by his Lebanese Christian family and when he arrived in Mexico, he adopted the name Julián Slim Haddad. On January 28, 1940, Julian’s young wife, Linda Helú Atta gave birth to their son Carlos Slim Helú. While growing up, Carlos soon took interest in business because that was what his father was into. The elder Slim encouraged his son who was only 10 at the time not to only learn but to read books too.

Carlos lost his father when he was just 13, but by this time, he had seen his father build a business from nothing to up to $100,000 and has also learned a lot from him. Hence, he continued working on his father’s business. Slim had earlier purchased his first stock when he was only 12.

For his education, Carlos Slim studied civil engineering from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. But having been ingrained with the business spirit, Carlos took up teaching algebra and linear programming while he was a student to help him earn money in school. He graduated in 1961 and got a job as a stockbroker even though he still had his own investment which only 4 years later, had accumulated to US$400,000. It was thanks to this that he began his own investment firm, Inversora Bursátil.

Although he kept piling up stocks with different companies. His big break came in the 1980s with the fall in oil prices which saw the country’s economy heading for the gutters. It was at this time that Slim amassed a lot of his wealth as the depression in the country continued. One thing that he continued doing which has kept pushing him was to buy companies that were undervalued and resell them after having built up their value.

In the years that followed, the investor bought Teléfonos de México which gave him a monopoly of the telecommunications market in Mexico and became the source of a large part of his wealth. In the years that followed, he invested in many other things from real estate, media, energy, and hospitality.

Carlos Slim’s Net Worth

In 2010, Carlos Slim was the world’s richest man and he remained there until 2013 when he was overtaken by . Nevertheless, he has continued to be among the billionaires in the world as well as the richest man in Mexico.

In 2019, his net worth was put at $62.3 billion, making him the 20th richest man in the world. His family has control of the biggest mobile telecom firm in Latin America, America Movil, while he owns a lot of other things including 17% of The New York Times.

For a man with his kind of fortune, it is very easy to expect that Slim will have the best of all money can buy including houses, cars, and much more. Among the cars he has is a Bentley Continental Flying Spur which is valued at $300,000.

With many properties, to his name, Slim has a house which is 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 years old and still growing 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 was said to be 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 passed in 1999 at the age of 51 following complications from a kidney problem. In her honor, Slim has decided not to remarry since he had known her since 1964 when they first met.

Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.