Sears (Mexico) to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands where he supervised the business expansion of the islands. From 1955 to 1993, Sears opened stores throughout Mexico. On April 2, 1997, Sears, now owned by Sears Holdings, formed a strategic alliance with Grupo Carso, owned by Mexican businessman Carlos Slim Helú, through which Sears agreed to sell 85% of its share of Sears Mexico to Grupo Carso, until 1997. As of 2007, Grupo Carso owned a 100% share of the company. Even though Sears unveiled a new lowercase logo in the United States in 2010, Sears Mexico still retains the pre-2004 logo (in
Carlos Slim to a running joke in the Mexican business scene where "there was nothing left to acquire in Mexico". He eyed towards investing the United States where he set up Telmex USA and also acquired a stake in Tracfone, a US cellular telephone company. At the same time, he established Carso Infraestructura y Construcción, S. A. (CICSA) as a construction and engineering company within Grupo Carso. During the same year, Slim had heart surgery and subsequently passed on much of the day-to-day involvement in the businesses to his children and their spouses. América Telecom, the holding company for América Móvil, was