39. Carlos Slim Helú

Carlos Slim Helú was born on 28 January 1940 in Mexico City, is a Mexican business magnate, investor and philanthropist. From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world by Forbes business magazine. He derived his fortune from his extensive holdings in a considerable number of Mexican companies through his conglomerate, Grupo Carso.

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As of February 2020, he is the fifth-richest person in the world according to Forbes’ listing of The World’s Billionaires, with he and his family having a net worth estimated at $68.9 billion. He is the richest person in Latin America.

His conglomerate includes education, health care, industrial manufacturing, transportation, real estate, media, energy, hospitality, entertainment, high-technology, retail, sports and financial services. He accounts for 40% of the listings on the Mexican Stock Exchange, while his net worth is equivalent to about 6 per cent of Mexico’s gross domestic product. As of 2016, he is the largest single shareholder of The New York Times Company.

Carlos Slim Helú was married to Soumaya Domit from 1967 until her death in 1999. Among her interests were various philanthropic projects. Slim has six children: Carlos, Marco Antonio, Patrick, Soumaya, Vanessa, and Johanna. His three older sons serve in key positions in the companies controlled by Slim where most are involved in the day-to-day running of Slim’s business empire.

Slim underwent heart surgery in 1999. In high school, Slim’s favourite subjects were history, cosmography, and mathematics. Slim and his wife had a very happy marriage, and he indicated that he does not intend to remarry.

In his office, Slim does not keep a computer and instead prefers to keep all his financial data in hand-written notebooks. Due to the vast size of his business empire, he often jokes that he cannot keep track of all the companies he manages. Slim is a Maronite Catholic, and he is one of the prominent backers of Legion of Christ, a Roman Catholic religious institute.

Sergio Perez’s ties to the Mexico-based Escudería Telmex racing team cover most of his three decades, stretching back to well before his days as a competitive driver. The relationship has afforded several opportunities to Formula One driver, who won his first race in the circuit last month before jumping to Red Bull.

Perez has spent 17 years under the tutelage of Carlos Slim Helú and Telmex, a partnership that continues to be a beacon for Mexican auto racing.