Germán Larrea Mota Velasco

Germán Larrea Mota Velasco
Born	26 10 1953 (age 73 years old (as of 2026) ) Mexico
Occupation	businessman
Known for	Chairman, president and CEO of Grupo México; chairman of Southern Copper Corporation

Mexican businessman; chairman and chief executive of Grupo México and chairman of Southern Copper

Germán Larrea Mota Velasco (born 26 October 1953) is a Mexican businessman and the majority owner of Grupo México, the country's largest copper miner, which also has operations in Peru and the United States and runs railways and infrastructure businesses.^[1] He has been Grupo México's chairman, president and chief executive since 1994, and chairman of its listed mining subsidiary Southern Copper Corporation since December 1999.^[2] Forbes lists the fortune as "Germán Larrea Mota Velasco & family". On 20 October 2026 the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list ranked Larrea and his family 29th in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$69.19 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as Mining.^[1]^[3] In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked Larrea and his family 30th, at US$67.1 billion.^[4]

Early life and education

Forbes gives his date of birth as 26 October 1953 and his citizenship as Mexican.^[1] No details of his education were found in the primary sources checked; Forbes's record lists none.

Business career

According to Southern Copper's management biography, Larrea joined Grupo México's board in 1981 and was previously its executive vice-chairman. He has been chairman, president and chief executive of Grupo México since 1994, chairman and chief executive of the railway holding company Grupo Ferroviario Mexicano since 1997, and chairman and chief executive of Empresarios Industriales de México and Fondo Inmobiliario since 1992. He has chaired Southern Copper since December 1999 and was its chief executive from December 1999 to October 2004.^[2] Southern Copper's 2025 proxy statement shows that Americas Mining Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Grupo México, held 88.9% of its common stock.^[5]

Forbes says Grupo México expanded into infrastructure and rail transport under his leadership, and that in 2017 he spun off its transport arm as GMéxico Transportes, part-owned by two companies of Carlos Slim Helú.^[1] In 2003 the U.S. Department of Justice reached a settlement over the US smelting company ASARCO's sale of its Southern Peru Copper stake to its parent. The settlement created an environmental clean-up trust with initial funding of about US$100 million, guaranteed by Grupo México as ASARCO's parent company.^[6]

In May 2023 Citigroup said it would float its Mexican retail bank, Banamex, rather than sell it, ending expectations of a US$7 billion sale to Grupo México. Mexico News Daily noted that the talks collapsed days after the government expropriated a section of Grupo México's railway.^[7]

Wealth

Forbes attributes the family's wealth to its majority stake in Grupo México and gives the source as mining.^[1]

Wealth history

Forbes has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 20 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2001. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list.^[4]^[1]

Forbes estimates by list year
Year	World's Billionaires rank	Net worth (US$ bn)
2001	490	1.0
2008	127	7.3
2009	246	2.6
2010	72	9.7
2011	39	16.0
2012	48	14.2
2013	40	16.7
2014	67	14.7
2015	77	13.9
2016	121	9.2
2017	82	13.8
2018	72	17.3
2019	98	13.3
2020	118	11.0
2021	61	25.9
2022	45	30.8
2023	54	26.6
2024	62	27.9
2025	63	28.6
2026	30	67.1

Philanthropy

No personal foundation or documented major personal gift by Larrea was found in the sources checked for this profile.

Political activity

Before Mexico's 2018 general election, Larrea sent a letter to Grupo México's employees, collaborators and shareholders. The Morena party complained to the electoral tribunal, accusing him of slander and of discouraging votes for it. On 27 July 2018 the tribunal's Specialised Regional Chamber ruled that the letter was valid. It found that the letter expressed an opinion on a matter of public interest and did not coerce employees or call for a vote for or against any party or candidate.^[8] At the time the miners' union said it was preparing its own complaint about the letter.^[9]

Controversies and legal issues

On 19 February 2006 a collapse of tunnels at the Pasta de Conchos coal mine, operated by Grupo México's subsidiary Minera México, killed 65 miners.^[9] In a company statement on 21 February 2006, Larrea said that "no effort or resource" would be spared in the rescue.^[10] In 2018 the national miners' union said that he had obstructed investigations into the disaster and that complaints against him were still pending before international bodies.^[9]

On 6 August 2014 a spill of hazardous mining waste from the Buenavista del Cobre mine at Cananea, Sonora, contaminated the Sonora river. Forbes reports that Grupo México agreed to a government request to put US$150 million into a trust to compensate affected residents.^[1]^[11] In September 2023 Mexico's environment ministry said that pollution in the area was still at alarming levels, and that the spill had been caused by the inadequate design of a dam rather than by heavy rainfall alone.^[12] La Jornada reported that the ministry had filed a criminal complaint against Grupo México on 17 August 2023. The environment minister, María Luisa Albores, said that less than half of the 2 billion pesos committed to remediation had been spent, and that the ministry would not accept the closure of the trust.^[11]

On 19 May 2023 the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador published a decree declaring a public-utility interest in three stretches of the Ferrosur railway concession in Veracruz, about 120 km in total, between Medias Aguas, Coatzacoalcos, Hibueras, Minatitlán and El Chapo. The decree ordered their immediate temporary occupation by the majority state-owned Ferrocarril del Istmo de Tehuantepec.^[13] Ferrosur is run by Grupo México's transport company. AP reported that marines were sent in to take over the line. The government said it would compensate the owners for the "temporary occupation", although AP said it was unclear whether the seizure amounted to expropriation.^[14] A later decree records that on 31 May 2023 Ferrosur signed an agreement with the federal government handing back the stretches. They were removed from its concession with effect from 7 June 2023, and it kept trackage rights over them. The October 2023 decree revoked the May decree.^[13]

International and political links

This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."