The Life And Times Of Carlos Slim

How the Mexican billionaire built an empire by seeing value where others saw none

- Justin Rohrlich

Carlos Slim Helú’s net worth—currently listed by Forbes at $55.4 billion—is equal to just under 5 percent of Mexico’s gross domestic product. In 2009, when the figure was 6.6 percent of the country’s GDP, author and Latin America policy analyst Brian Winter provided some context for the Mexican magnate’s immense wealth and vast corporate holdings: If Bill Gates were to control as large a portion of the U.S. economy, Winter explained in Foreign Policy magazine, “he would probably also have to own Alcoa, Philip Morris, Sears, Best Buy, TGIFriday’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Marriott, Citibank, and JetBlue.”

Unlike certain billionaires, the 77-year-old Slim does not go out of his way to flaunt his fortune. He has lived in the same home for the past four decades, in Mexico City’s Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood. His office is a mile away; his childhood home, three miles. Slim’s social life isn’t actually much of one, a friend once told a reporter. He wears suits from Sears, which he owns in Mexico; he buys his food from Sanborns, a chain he also owns. As is widely known, Slim is the largest shareholder of the New York Times, the so-called “newspaper of record” of the United States. He drives himself, even though his cousin was kidnapped in 1994; Slim’s car is always tailed by bodyguards. And although he no longer lives in either of his New York mansions, Slim is said to be a steadfast Yankees fan.