Carlos Slim Helu (born January 28, 1940) is a renowned Mexican business mogul, investor, and philanthropist. He runs the international conglomerate, Grupo Carso – with business interests spanning telecommunication, manufacturing, construction, energy, commercial, and research & development. From 2010 – 2013, Slim was recognized as the richest person in the world by Forbes business magazine. Apart from his business dominance, Slim is recognized for his philanthropic endeavors through The Carlos Slim Foundation, established in 1986. The Foundation supports healthcare, education, the arts, and strives to improve living standards in impoverished areas.
He built the position the way his engineering training taught him: read the numbers, buy the asset while it is cheap, and let its own cash rebuild the balance sheet. Fresh out of the National Autonomous University of Mexico with a civil engineering degree (he taught algebra while still a student), he incorporated his own stock brokerage, Inversora Bursátil, in 1965, and spent the next decade and a half buying into construction, real estate, and mining. He folded the pieces into a single holding company in 1980, and when Mexico’s 1982 debt crisis sent investors fleeing and prices collapsing, he did the opposite, acquiring controlling stakes in dozens of Mexican companies at distressed prices. The decisive move came in 1990, when a consortium he led with Southwestern Bell and France Télécom won the auction for Telmex, the state telephone monopoly, and then poured investment into modernizing the network. The pattern stayed the same afterward: buy productive assets below their worth, reinvest what they earn, and hold them for decades rather than trade them.
With his civil engineering background and an innate mathematical ability, Slim does not use a personal computer at the office and he tracks important financial data in handwritten notebooks to assist him in making business decisions. As a young entrepreneur, Slim started a stock brokerage in the 1960’s and was a large real estate investor. His business took off in the 1980’s, and in 1990 he won a bid for Mexican telecom giant, Telmex, during Mexico’s efforts to privatize national industries. Slim officially formed Grupo Carso in 1990, merging and consolidating multiple business entities. While Slim has faced some criticism for practices considered “monopolistic,” there is no doubt he has had a tremendous impact on the business world globally, and especially Latin America’s dynamic economic landscape.
Slim espouses a commitment to social responsibility while advocating strongly for free market capitalism, which fosters efficiency and innovation that benefits society as a whole. He believes businesses should operate largely free of government intervention, but should also operate with consideration for their impact on employees, their community, environment, and society. Slim continues to be a prominent voice in the world on the topics of business, capitalism, wealth, and improving society.
Core Ideas
- Buy when prices are set by fear. Slim’s largest gains came from sound companies bought during Mexico’s 1982 debt crisis, when sellers needed cash more than they needed full value.
- Know the numbers before you need them. Master costs and balance sheets in quiet times, so the decision in a crisis is arithmetic rather than emotion.
- Avoid the big mistake. Small losses are tuition; the unforgivable error is the one large enough to end the game.
- Let competition grade you. A strong rival is a measuring stick that forces improvement, even on the days it wins.
- Trust work over luck. Circumstances are built by showing up for decades, and firm, patient optimism is a policy, not a mood.
Carlos Slim Quotes
“Firm and patient optimism always yields its rewards.”
“All businesses make mistakes. The trick is to avoid large ones.”
“With good perspective of history we can have a better understanding of the past and present, and thus a clear vision of the future.”
“Competition makes you better, always, always makes you better, even if the competitor wins.”
“I don’t believe too much in luck. I believe in circumstances. I believe in work.”
“Do not allow negative feelings and emotions to control your mind. Emotional harm does not come from others; it is conceived and developed within ourselves.”
“All times are good times for those who know how to work and have the means to do so.”
“Work well done is not only a responsibility to yourselves and society; it is also an emotional need.”
“It’s important to give a better country to your children, but it is more important to give better children to your country.”
“Focus on essentials and try not to get distracted and bogged down by things that don’t add value to the bottom line.”
“You cannot have people in your organization who are pessimists. They take you to mediocrity.”
Carlos Slim Books
“Carlos Slim: The Power, Money, and Morality of One of the World’s Richest Men” – by Diego Osorno. The standard English-language biography, by a Mexican investigative journalist: the businesses, the fortune, and the questions that follow both.
“Carlos Slim: The Richest Man in the World” – by José Martínez. The authorized biography, written with access to Slim, his family, and his papers: the deals and the thinking behind them, in his own account.
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