Land Lines
He built his fortune by buying businesses such as a bottling company and a cigarette maker. In 1990, he bought Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex) through a privatization sale. His holdings in America Movil SAB, Latin America's largest mobile-phone carrier, were valued at about $49 billion at the end of 2010. More than two-thirds of his wealth comes from his stakes in America Movil and Telmex, the nation's biggest land-line phone company.
Slim said the arts won't become a key focus of his future philanthropy. He'll continue to fund and address health, education, sports and public welfare issues through his telecommunications company's Telmex Foundation and the Slim Foundation.
"In the world of culture, we will operate a museum and we will find other works and we will lend the collection to other museums," he said. "Health and education is where our efforts are focused and we want to support human capital. The most important way to take people out of poverty is through employment."
Slim said he won't join the Giving Pledge started by billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates to encourage the world's wealthiest people to promise to give away half of their wealth to charity. More than 50 billionaires have joined the pledge including David Rockefeller, Eli Broad, Sanford Weill and Ted Turner.
"When you are an investor maybe you can sell your investments, but it's important for me to develop these companies," he said. "We don't think it's necessary to give away half. Why half? Why not 80% or 70% or 60%?"