Who Is and How Did Carlos Slim

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Who Is and How Did Carlos Slim?

        With a net worth of 70.9 billion dollars (Forbes) Carlos Slim singlehandedly accounts for over 5% of Mexico’s GDP (WSJ). However, unlike other celebrity billionaires like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, or Mark Zuckerberg, Carlos Slim maintains a low profile and remains outside the popular culture spotlight. This case study begins with a quick glance at Carlos Slim’s personal and professional life in order to demystify this significant figure. More importantly, this case study demonstrates what his experiences teach us about the Mexican business culture, policies, and development. His ascent from a humble beginning to the richest man in the world, the grand opportunities he received in 1982 and in 1990, and his avoidance of monopolistic regulations help demonstrate the effect and efficiency of Mexican economic policy that has shaped Mexico’s development in the second half of the 20th century and in recent times. Furthermore, this case study presents the harsh criticisms he has received, his great philanthropic activities, and reflects on his effects on income inequality in a neo-liberal world. This in-depth study of a single person reveals a great deal about a country as a whole. Slim’s rise to power demonstrates the impact of relationships, negotiations, contracts, and influences of power present in the business culture of Mexico, and reveals the deep inequality that is present in Mexico and questions the morality of a single person obtaining so much, in a country where the population that has so little.

1. Carlos Slim’s Biography

Carlos Slim Helu, was born in January 28th, 1940 in Mexico City and is best known for having been the world’s richest person from 2010-2013 and accumulating a wealth bigger than 75% of the GDP’s of all the countries in the world (Forbe’s). Slim’s family is of Lebanese decent, and his dad, Julian, first arrived to Mexico at age 15 in order to escape enlistment into the Lebanese army. Shortly after, Julian opened a dry goods store called “La Estrella del Oriente.” Eventually, with enough money saved up, Julian bought some real estate and used this to support a family of six children.

Slim grew up working in and managing the store, learning a lot about business from his father. He fell in love with the business world and even bought his first stocks at age 12. Slim went on to study civil engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (U.N.A.M). After graduation, Slim began working as a trader, and impressively, at only 25, he began to establish his own brokerage and investment firm, Inmobilaria Carso. He named the firm using the first three letters of CARlos and the first two of SOumaya, his wife, who he married in 1966, and remained happily married to until her tragic death in 1999. (CarlosSlim)