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Slim and his family own and manage América Móvil, one Latin America’s largest telcos
Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has bought a 3.16% share of BT for roughly £400 million, making him one of the company’s largest shareholders.
The share was purchased through Slim’s financial company, Inbursa, and two other group companies.
Slim is now the third largest shareholder in BT, after fellow billionaire Patrick Drahi, who owns an 24% stake through his subsidiary Altice UK, and Deutsche Telekom with a 12.06% share.
“We have frequent communication with all of our shareholders and meet with major investors on a regular basis,” said a BT spokesperson. “We look forward to engaging with Inbursa, just as we do with all investors.”
Speaking to the Financial Times, director of consumer and connectivity at CCS Insight, Kester Mann, said the investment in BT was “an endorsement” of BT’s latest strategy update and reflected “good recent momentum for BT” under the leadership of new CEO Allison Kirkby.
Kirkby, who joined the company in February from Telia, last month announced that the company had already met its target to save £3 billion in costs by 2025, largely thanks to its ongoing job-cutting programme; BT is currently aiming to eliminate 55,000 jobs (or 40% of the total workforce) by the end of the decade.
With this target met, Kirkby now says BT will do the same thing again, cutting a further £3 billion in costs by 2029.
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