Carlos Slim Helú (born January 28, 1940 in Mexico City) is a Mexican businessman. He is Latin America's richest man, and #3 in the world according to Forbes [1]

Slim Haddad married Linda Helu, daughter of another prosperous Lebanese merchant, and had six children. Carlos Slim Helu was the fifth of the six children. Carlos credits his father as his mentor in business, retailing and finance. Julian Slim Haddad died in 1952, leaving his family a moderately prosperous economic base from which Carlos launched his successful financial career. His son, Carlos Slim Domit, has bought a stake in Televisa. [1] [2]

Slim has six children and lives in Mexico City. He is an engineer by profession, graduated from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) (National Autonomous University of Mexico) in 1961, where before graduating he taught Algebra and Linear Programming. He has given lectures in public and private institutions, and also in international bodies such as the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

He 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 (Previously Philip Morris) Group (to which he resigned in April, 2006) and Alcatel, as well as for SBC Communications, a position from which he retired in July 2004 to devote more time to the Latin American Development Fund, focusing on infrastructure, health and education, amongst the most relevant work. He later built an important Mexican financial-industrial empire, Grupo Carso, that owns, among other companies the CompUSA electronic retail chain. After 28 years he became the Honorary Lifetime Chairman of the business. He also holds this position in TELMEX, América Móvil and Grupo Financiero Inbursa.

The source of most of his wealth is the telecommunications company Telefonos de Mexico, acquired at a bargain from Mexican president and friend Carlos Salinas De Gortari. He has attracted criticism from some for allegedly gouging the price telecommunications, as the services offered to the public do not equal similarly-priced options in the United States.