Mexican tycoon
Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helu has overtaken Microsoft
founder Bill Gates as the richest person on the planet, the Mexican financial
website Sentido Comun reported.
Sentido Comun said the Mexican billionaire's wealth had rocketed past Gates
following the red-hot performance of his telecommunications firm, America Movil.
US-based Forbes magazine, renowned for its rankings of the world's wealthiest
individuals, updated its listings in April to rank Slim as the second richest
individual in the world, as he bested the legendary US investor Warren Buffett.
The Mexican financial website said Slim's lead over Gates amounted to billions
of dollars.
"Thanks to a 26.5-percent rise in the shares of America Movil during the second
quarter, Slim, who controls a 33-percent interest in Latin America's largest
mobile phone company, is substantially richer than Gates," Sentido Comun said.
"The difference between their two fortunes is around nine billion dollars in
favor of Slim," the financial website claimed.
It said it had based its calculations largely on the share price movements of
companies controlled by Slim.
The website said soaring performances from Slim's other business interests had
also helped propel him past Gates.
Aside from America Movil, Slim controls the INBURSA financial group and the
Grupo Carso industrial firm with interests spanning retail stores, coffee shops
and restaurants.
One reason for Slim's meteoric rise might be because he is also still working.
Gates stepped aside as Microsoft chief in 2000 to devote his energies to the
philanthropic foundation he runs with his wife, Melinda.
Forbes in April had pegged Slim's wealth at a staggering 53.1 billion dollars,
and said Gates was sitting on a 56-billion-dollar fortune.
Slim, the son of Lebanese immigrants, has had business in his blood from his
early days when he helped out in his father's shop, "The Star of the Orient."
The 67-year-old started out in real estate and was already affluent enough when
he graduated from university with an engineering degree to buy stakes in a stock
brokerage and a bottling firm.
During the crippling Latin American economic crisis of the early 1980s, Slim
snapped up and reformed a number of distressed businesses, banking massive
profits for Grupo Carso.
Carso gained its name from the first three letters of Slim's name and the first
two of his late wife's, Soumaya Gemayel.
Analysts say one of Slim's smartest and most lucrative deals occurred when he
took control of Telefonos de Mexico (Telemex) in 1990 as the then government
moved to privatize the sprawling monopoly.
Slim oversaw a 1.8-billion-dollar investment to take over Telemex, but he then
overhauled the company and expanded its service as the telecom firm became the
star of the Mexican stock exchange and more than returned Slim's initial
investment.
The Mexican billionaire has also made some savvy stock picks.
In 1997, he bought about three percent of Apple Computer at 17 dollars a share
shortly before the company launched its hit iMac computer. Twelve months later,
Apple's shares topped 100 dollars.
Despite his vast riches, Slim reportedly shuns corporate jets and flashy offices
and sported a plastic watch during the 1990s.
Widowed in 1999, Slim has boosted his philanthropic presence and overseen his
three sons' careers within his business empire.
Like Gates, he has developed a strong profile on the philanthropic front.
Earlier this month he allied himself with the foundation of former US president
Bill Clinton and with Canadian mining magnate Frank Giustra to launch an
anti-poverty campaign in Latin America.
Fifty-three percent of Mexico's population of 104 million live in poverty, which
is defined as living on less than two dollars a day, World Bank data show.
