Slim vs Zhao
América Móvil and Binance.
The differences
- Forbes puts Carlos Slim Helú about $5.8B ahead of Changpeng Zhao.Forbes figures from 17 Oct 2026 and 30 Sep 2026.
- Both started the company their money comes from.
- Carlos Slim Helú is about 37 years older than Changpeng Zhao.
- Carlos Slim Helú is from Mexico; Changpeng Zhao is from Canada.
Put someone else on either side
Side by side
Slim
ZhaoThe money
- Net worth, Forbes
- $120BForbes, 17 Oct 2026
- $115BForbes, 30 Sep 2026
- Net worth, Bloomberg
- $118BBloomberg, 10 Oct 2026
- $82.1BBloomberg, 9 Oct 2026
- Forbes rank
- No. 15Real-Time list, 20 Sep 2026
- No. 16Real-Time list, 30 Sep 2026
- Billionaire since
- 1991First year on a Forbes billionaires list: Forbes says he 'first appeared on Forbes' Billionaires list in 1991 at $1.7 billion', mainly on his Grupo Carso stake
- Not stated
Where it came from
- How it started
- Founded itBegan building Grupo Carso in 1965 at 25; Inmobiliaria Carso was incorporated in January 1966. He bought into Telmex at its 1990 privatisation; América Móvil was spun off from Telmex in 2000
- Co-founded itBinance lists him as co-founder and says he launched Binance in July 2017; Forbes labels him self-made
- Main source
- Stakes in América Móvil, Grupo Carso and Grupo Financiero InbursaBloomberg: his most valuable asset is a majority shareholding in America Movil, followed by Grupo Carso and Inbursa
- Binance, a cryptocurrency exchangeForbes: source of wealth 'Cryptocurrency exchange'
- Companies
- América Móvil, Grupo CarsoAmérica Móvil: Honorary and life chairman; Grupo Carso: Honorary lifetime chairman
- BinanceBinance: Co-founder and former CEO
- Biggest stake
- Grupo Carso76% owned
- Binance100% owned
The person
- Born
- 28 Jan 1940Mexico City, Mexico
- 1977Jiangsu, China
- Country
- MexicoLives in Mexico City, Mexico
- CanadaLives in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Education
- Bachelor's degreeCivil engineering degree, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), 1961
- Bachelor's degreeComputer science degree, McGill University, Montreal
- Parents
- Father Julián Slim Haddad, a Lebanese immigrant, owned the dry-goods store La Estrella de Oriente and property in central Mexico City; mother Linda Helú
- Mother a teacher, father an academic who took a job at the University of British Columbia; the family moved to Canada in the late 1980sBloomberg profile; Forbes adds that his father, a professor, was temporarily exiled shortly after Zhao was born
What they give
- Giving Pledge
- Not a signer
- Not a signer
- Foundation
- Fundación Carlos SlimFounded 1986; he also chairs Fundación Telmex
- Giggle AcademyA free online education platform for children that he founded; described as a platform, not a foundation
- Lifetime giving
- $4.2BForbes, 26 Mar 2019. Dated Forbes estimate: donations to the Carlos Slim Foundation since 2006, per his spokesman
- Not stated
Role and record
- Role now
- Chair of the boardHonorary lifetime chairman of Grupo Carso; chairman of IDEAL and of his foundations
- Founder, no executive roleCo-founder and former CEO of Binance
- Successor
- His sons have taken over: Carlos Slim Domit chairs América Móvil and Grupo Carso; Patrick Slim Domit is co-chairman of América Móvil and was CEO of Grupo Carso; Marco Antonio Slim Domit is a Grupo Carso director
- Richard Teng succeeded him as Binance CEO in November 2023; co-founder Yi He became co-CEO alongside Teng in December 2025
- Public office
- Member, UN high-level advisory group on energy and climate change; Co-leader, Mexico City Historic Centre citizens' advisory councilYear not stated; 2001-present
- Strategic Advisor to the Pakistan Crypto Council2025
- Legal record
- 2001: Texas state district court (Dallas); reversed by the Texas Court of Appeals in 2004After a jury verdict for COC Services in a dispute over a CompUSA franchise deal, the trial judge ordered him personally to pay $85.5 million; in 2004 the Court of Appeals reversed the judgment against him and his companies and ruled that COC take nothing from them.
- 2023: US DOJ; 2023: US CFTC (court order)Pleaded guilty on November 21, 2023 to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by causing Binance to fail to implement an effective anti-money-laundering program; Binance separately pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $4.3 billion. A federal court in Seattle sentenced him in 2024 to four months in prison, and Forbes reports he paid a $50 million fine. He received a full and unconditional presidential pardon on October 21, 2025. The US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois approved the CFTC's settlement with Binance and Zhao and entered a consent order requiring Zhao to pay a $150 million civil monetary penalty.
