Carlos Slim

Current Company

América Móvil & Grupo Carso — Honorary Chairman

The Telmex Bet That Built an Empire

Carlos Slim's defining move came in 1990, when he led a consortium to acquire Telmex — Mexico's state telephone monopoly — for $1.76 billion during the country's wave of privatizations. Critics called it a sweetheart deal; Slim called it a bet on Mexico's future. He invested heavily in modernizing the country's telephone infrastructure, then expanded into mobile through América Móvil, which grew to serve over 300 million subscribers across Latin America, making it the region's dominant telecommunications provider.

Slim's conglomerate Grupo Carso expanded into construction, mining, retail, media, and real estate — becoming so omnipresent in the Mexican economy that economists estimated his companies accounted for roughly 6% of Mexico's GDP. From 2010 to 2013, he held the title of the world's richest person, ahead of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

Industrial Pragmatism Over Ideology

Slim's business philosophy is defined by countercyclical investing and operational discipline. He famously buys undervalued assets during economic downturns — acquiring stakes in The New York Times Company, Saks Fifth Avenue, and numerous Latin American companies at distressed prices — then holds patiently while others panic. His personal style is notably modest for a man of his wealth: he lived in the same house for decades and is known for keeping handwritten notes rather than using a computer.

Critics argue that Slim's fortune was built on monopolistic market conditions in Mexican telecommunications, where regulatory capture kept competition limited for decades. Defenders point out that he invested billions in infrastructure that connected millions of Mexicans for the first time. Regardless of the debate, the scale of what Slim built — a fortune rivaling any in American tech — from a developing economy is without parallel.