Early life
Slim was born in Mexico City, Mexico.[5] His father, Julián Slim Haddad (Arabic ?????? ???? ????), arrived in Mexico in 1902 from Lebanon, alone at 14 years of age and speaking no Spanish; he was escaping from the Ottoman Empire, which at the time conscripted young men into its army – mothers therefore sent their sons to exile before turning fifteen. Carlos Slim’s mother, Linda Helú(Arabic ????? ???), was born in Parral, Chihuahua; she was the daughter of José Helú (Arabic ????? ???) and Wadiha Atta (Arabic ????? ???), Lebanese immigrants who arrived in Mexico at the end of the 19th century, brought the first Arabic printing press to Mexico, and founded one of the first magazines for the Lebanese community in the country. In 1911, Julián established a dry goods store calledLa Estrella del Oriente (The Star of the Orient) and purchased real estate in downtown Mexico City. In August 1926, Julián Slim and Linda Helú married in Mexico City; they had six children, of whom Carlos was the youngest boy.
Slim studied engineering at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. By the time he was 26 years old, his net worth was $40 million.[6] He married Soumaya DomitGemayel (Arabic ???? ????), also a Lebanese-Mexican, in 1967; they had six children and were married for 32 years until Domit died of a kidney ailment in 1999. The youngest daughter, Johanna, is married to Arturo Elías Ayub, a board member of some of Slim’s companies.
Personal wealth
On August 4, 2007, The Wall Street Journal ran a cover story profiling Slim. The article said, “While the marketvalue of his stake in publicly traded companies could decline at any time, at the moment he is probably wealthier than Bill Gates”.[7] On March 29, 2007, Slim surpassed Warren Buffett as the world’s second richest person with an estimated net worth of US$53.1 billion compared to Buffett’s US$52.4 billion.[8] According to The Wall Street Journal, Slim credits part of his ability to discover investmentopportunities early to the writings of his friend, futurist author Alvin Toffler.[7]
On August 8, 2007, Fortune reported that Slim had overtaken Gates as the world’s richest man. Slim’s estimated fortune soared to US$59 billion, based on the value of his public holdings the end of July. Gates’ net worth was estimated to be at least US$58 billion.[7][9]
On March 5, 2008, Forbes ranked Slim asthe world’s second-richest person, behind Warren Buffett and ahead of Bill Gates.[10]
On March 11, 2009, Forbes ranked Slim as the world’s third-richest person, behind Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and ahead of Lawrence Ellison.[4]
On March 10, 2010, Forbes once again reported that Slim had overtaken Gates as the world’s richest man, with a net worth of US$53.5 billion. Bill Gates andWarren Buffett now have a net worth of US$53 billion and US$47 billion respectively.[1] He was the first Mexican to top the list.[11] It was the first time in 16 years that the person on top of the list was not from the United States.[12] It was also the first time the person at the top of the list was not from Europe, the Middle East or the United States, and the first from an “emerging economy”.[13]Achievements and directorships
Slim 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 Group (previously Philip Morris)(resigned in April 2006) and Alcatel. Slim currently sits on the Board of Directors for Philip Morris International. He was on the Board of Directors of SBC Communications until July 2004 to devote more time to the World Education & Development Fund, which focused on infrastructure, health and education projects. In 1997, just before the company introduced its iMac line, Slim bought three percent of…
