Before Telmex. Before billions. A balance-sheet reader who prepared quietly for decades.
Born in 1940 in Mexico City, Carlos Slim grew up in a middle-class household. His father was a Lebanese immigrant and small businessman—not an oligarch.
What mattered wasn’t money. It was education.
Slim learned accounting early. As a teenager, he tracked stock trades in notebooks. This habit never left.
Slim studied civil engineering at UNAM. Even after graduating, he continued attending classes—just to learn.
Engineering shaped his thinking:
He didn’t think in ideas. He thought in structures.
Around age 25, Slim founded Inversora Bursátil.
He bought small, boring Mexican companies and focused on:
No moonshots. No technology bets. Just arithmetic.
Slim followed a strict operating code:
He wasn’t building brands. He was compounding quietly.
Mexico collapsed.
Most businessmen froze. Slim went shopping.
He bought construction firms, retailers, and manufacturers—at distressed prices. This is where his reputation was built.
No press. No politics. No expansion for ego.
Slim focused on:
Patience wasn’t a virtue. It was the strategy.
By the late 1980s, Slim controlled dozens of cash-generating companies.
He had capital, credibility, and operational muscle.
When Telmex was privatized in 1990, he wasn’t lucky. He was ready.
Carlos Slim didn’t become rich by buying Telmex.
He trained for Telmex for 25 years.
Most people notice the monopoly. They miss the decades of preparation.