Carlos Slim Helú was born in Mexico City, Mexico and is the youngest son of Linda Helú and Julian Slim. He went to the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where he completed his degree in engineering.

This Mexican entrepreneur, who had an estimated net worth of $40 million when he was just 26, is the CEO and chairperson of Telmex, Telcel and América Móvil. With these positions and companies, Carlos Slim Helú surpassed Warren Buffett as the world’s second wealthiest person on the 29th of March 2007. His estimated net worth at that time was $53.1 billion.

Carlos Slim Helú continued to increase his net worth in the following years. In the rankings for the world’s wealthiest, he went past Bill Gates but remained a rank behind Warren Buffett. On March 11, 2009, Forbes ranked him as the third richest person in the world. However, on March 10, 2010, Carlos Slim Helú surpassed both Gates and Buffet as the world’s richest man, with a net worth of US$53.5 billion, as compared to Gates’ $53 billion and Buffett’s $47 billion. He is the first Mexican to top Forbes’ list.

In April 2010, Carlos Slim Helú increased his net worth to around $60.6 billion.

Carlos Slim Helú is the recipient of Mexico’s Chamber of Commerce’s Entrepreneurial Merit Medal of Honor.