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VLMIL Candidate #15: Carlos Slim

12:54 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Money| Polls2006| VivirLatino| business

26 Jul 2006

carlosslim.jpgName: Carlos Slim Helú
Age: 66

Occupation: Billionaire businessman

Place of Residence: Mexico City

Bio: Carlos Slim Helú was born the son of Lebanese immigrant shop owners in Mexico City. From Wikipedia: “His father Julián Slim (Yusef Salim) Haddad, a Lebanese Maronite Christian, fled as a teenager to Mexico City in 1902, to escape the harsh military rule of the Ottoman Turks. Julián established a dry goods store called La Estrella del Oriente (Star or the Orient) in 1911, and shrewdly bought up some prime real estate in the city centre. Julián married the daughter of another prosperous Lebanese merchant, and had six children, of which Carlos was the fifth.”


Carlos Slim learned from his father the art of investing, and has invested his way to becoming Mexico’s most powerful businessman, controlling everything from the national telephone company to cell phones to leading the Mexican Stock Exchange as vice-president. There’s no need in attempting to detail all of Slim’s involvement in Mexican and international business ventures. It’s enough to say he’s filthy rich.

Why he’s loved: Some admire Slim for being an example of a successful Latin American businessman. He’s successfully maintained his hold on the telecomm market when American companies such as AT&T have attempted to enter the Mexican marketplace. He recently pledged 2.5 million dollars to charities supporting the poor.

Why he’s hated: For creating telephone monopolies in Mexico which drove prices through the roof due to his squashing of the competition.

Why he’s influential: He’s the 3rd richest person in the world (yes, in the world) and appears yearly on Forbes’ billionaire list. Carlos Slim seems to own everything, and if he doesn’t, he can buy it and will.

VOTE for Carlos Slim as VL’s Most Influential Latino 2006

Photo via BanderasNews.com

3 Responses to VLMIL Candidate #15: Carlos Slim

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oso

July 27th, 2006 at 3:06 am

But for real, I want the names and emails of everyone who votes for slim.

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Rabih Nasr

May 3rd, 2007 at 1:26 pm

hmmmmm…Im Rabih From Lebanon….
As a comment on Mr Carlos Slim, i can say that we support him, and we are with him whatever he does, coz We r sure that everything he do, is the best, and thats coz, first of all, he is Lebanese, and Lebanese people are known by their Love to their Work, they always like to succed in Life, and for sure their love to their Great Country LEBANON…
So, WE (As Lebanese) AND LEBANON ARE PROUD OF U……. :)
rabih_nasr@hotmail.com

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sabo mohammed Abubakar

January 16th, 2008 at 6:35 pm

I pray to GOD to protect carlos slim Helu from any evils that harm him.

Hola!

VivirLatino is a daily publication published by 2 Mujeres Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse and influential Latino and Latina community in the U.S.

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