$49bn Mexican jumps up list of world's richest
David Teather
Saturday March 10, 2007
The Guardian
A Mexican businessman who is almost unheard of in Britain is close to becoming the wealthiest man in the world. Carlos Slim Helú added another $19bn (£10bn) to his wealth in 2006, taking his fortune to $49bn, according to the latest Forbes billionaires list. He is breathing down the neck of the wisecracking investment expert Warren Buffett, who remained in second spot. His fortune rose a more modest $10bn during the year to reach $52bn.
Article continues
For the 13th successive year, the ranking was topped by Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates, rapidly becoming as well known for giving his money away as he is for accumulating it. His fortune rose $6bn last year to $56bn. He and Mr Buffett have promised to give most of their money to charitable causes.
Mr Slim Helú, 67, the son of a Lebanese immigrant, heads one of a handful of families who dominate the Mexican economy. His wealth is equivalent to 6.3% of Mexico's economic output and his vast fortune has not made him popular in a country where half the population still lives in poverty.
He became a public figure in 1990, when he bought a 51% stake in the state phone company during a privatisation push - a deal that drew fire from critics who complained of cronyism. He still controls about 90% of the Mexican landline market.
There are now a record 946 dollar billionaires around the globe, according to the latest Forbes ranking, making their fortunes in everything from software to steel to Chinese dumplings. In the previous list there were 793 billionaires.
The combined wealth on the list grew 35% during the year to $3.5 trillion on the back of rising property prices, commodities and stocks. Luisa Kroll, who helped compile the list, described it as "kind of an extraordinary year".
The highest-ranking Briton on the list is the Duke of Westminster, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, at number 55, who inherited much of his wealth and is one of Britain's wealthiest landowners. He is said to be worth $11bn.
Sir Philip Green, the retail entrepreneur who controls Bhs and Top Shop, is the second-ranked Briton at 104 with a $7bn fortune. Next are the property tycoons David and Simon Reuben, worth a combined $4.5bn and ranked at 177.
Sir Richard Branson is ranked 230 with $3.8bn; Lord Sainsbury, a scion of the grocery chain empire, is 432nd with $2.2bn; the Daily Mail chairman, Viscount Rothermere, is ranked at 618 with $1.6bn; and vacuum cleaner man James Dyson cleans up at the same ranking, also with $1.6bn. Harry Potter author JK Rowling scrapes in with a fortune valued at $1bn. There are 29 British citizens on the list.
There are two others who made their fortunes from a different type of publishing: Richard Desmond the former soft-porn publisher who owns the Daily Express, is 754th on the list with $1.3bn and Paul Raymond, who owns Escort, Mayfair and Razzle magazines, is worth $1bn.
A clear trend to emerge is the growing wealth in China and India, the two firebrand economies driving global growth. Another 14 people from India joined the list.
With 36 billionaires, India has overtaken Japan, which has 24, as home to the most billionaires in Asia. There are three Indians in the top 20, led by Lakshmi Mittal, who is ranked number five with $32bn.
There were 13 Chinese newcomers including Li Wei, founder of Synear Food Holding, one of China's largest producers of frozen food, including dumplings, and an official supplier to the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
The US still has 44% of the world billionaires but its share is shrinking. Russia is also rising fast with 53 billionaires, according to Forbes. The Wal-Mart family dropped from the top 20, reflecting a difficult year for the world's largest retailer.
The average billionaire is 62 years old and 60% of the people on the list made their money from scratch.
About 100 eligible men are included among the world's wealthiest. As Forbes says, singletons should stop scouring the grocery store aisles and bars and start studying the list.
Heading the bachelor pack are Google's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin - unmarried at 33 and 34 respectively. They are worth $16.6bn apiece, taking 26th place in the overall list.
Other notable bachelors are the Russian metals magnate Mikhail Prokhorov, in 38th place with an estimated net worth of $13.5bn, and the divorced James Packer, sitting on a more modest $5.5bn media fortune.
Those after a walk on the wild side should look down the list to 664th place for the accordion-playing, fire-breathing founder of Cirque du Soleil, Guy Laliberté. The 47-year-old Canadian founded the animal-free acrobatic show in 1984 and retains 95% of the business. He is worth an estimated $1.5bn.
The top-ranking woman, at number 12, is the 84-year-old L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, with a fortune of $20.7bn. Chat show queen Oprah Winfrey is estimated to be worth $1.5bn.
Saturday March 10, 2007
The Guardian
A Mexican businessman who is almost unheard of in Britain is close to becoming the wealthiest man in the world. Carlos Slim Helú added another $19bn (£10bn) to his wealth in 2006, taking his fortune to $49bn, according to the latest Forbes billionaires list. He is breathing down the neck of the wisecracking investment expert Warren Buffett, who remained in second spot. His fortune rose a more modest $10bn during the year to reach $52bn.
Article continues
For the 13th successive year, the ranking was topped by Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates, rapidly becoming as well known for giving his money away as he is for accumulating it. His fortune rose $6bn last year to $56bn. He and Mr Buffett have promised to give most of their money to charitable causes.
Mr Slim Helú, 67, the son of a Lebanese immigrant, heads one of a handful of families who dominate the Mexican economy. His wealth is equivalent to 6.3% of Mexico's economic output and his vast fortune has not made him popular in a country where half the population still lives in poverty.
He became a public figure in 1990, when he bought a 51% stake in the state phone company during a privatisation push - a deal that drew fire from critics who complained of cronyism. He still controls about 90% of the Mexican landline market.
There are now a record 946 dollar billionaires around the globe, according to the latest Forbes ranking, making their fortunes in everything from software to steel to Chinese dumplings. In the previous list there were 793 billionaires.
The combined wealth on the list grew 35% during the year to $3.5 trillion on the back of rising property prices, commodities and stocks. Luisa Kroll, who helped compile the list, described it as "kind of an extraordinary year".
The highest-ranking Briton on the list is the Duke of Westminster, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, at number 55, who inherited much of his wealth and is one of Britain's wealthiest landowners. He is said to be worth $11bn.
Sir Philip Green, the retail entrepreneur who controls Bhs and Top Shop, is the second-ranked Briton at 104 with a $7bn fortune. Next are the property tycoons David and Simon Reuben, worth a combined $4.5bn and ranked at 177.
Sir Richard Branson is ranked 230 with $3.8bn; Lord Sainsbury, a scion of the grocery chain empire, is 432nd with $2.2bn; the Daily Mail chairman, Viscount Rothermere, is ranked at 618 with $1.6bn; and vacuum cleaner man James Dyson cleans up at the same ranking, also with $1.6bn. Harry Potter author JK Rowling scrapes in with a fortune valued at $1bn. There are 29 British citizens on the list.
There are two others who made their fortunes from a different type of publishing: Richard Desmond the former soft-porn publisher who owns the Daily Express, is 754th on the list with $1.3bn and Paul Raymond, who owns Escort, Mayfair and Razzle magazines, is worth $1bn.
A clear trend to emerge is the growing wealth in China and India, the two firebrand economies driving global growth. Another 14 people from India joined the list.
With 36 billionaires, India has overtaken Japan, which has 24, as home to the most billionaires in Asia. There are three Indians in the top 20, led by Lakshmi Mittal, who is ranked number five with $32bn.
There were 13 Chinese newcomers including Li Wei, founder of Synear Food Holding, one of China's largest producers of frozen food, including dumplings, and an official supplier to the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
The US still has 44% of the world billionaires but its share is shrinking. Russia is also rising fast with 53 billionaires, according to Forbes. The Wal-Mart family dropped from the top 20, reflecting a difficult year for the world's largest retailer.
The average billionaire is 62 years old and 60% of the people on the list made their money from scratch.
About 100 eligible men are included among the world's wealthiest. As Forbes says, singletons should stop scouring the grocery store aisles and bars and start studying the list.
Heading the bachelor pack are Google's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin - unmarried at 33 and 34 respectively. They are worth $16.6bn apiece, taking 26th place in the overall list.
Other notable bachelors are the Russian metals magnate Mikhail Prokhorov, in 38th place with an estimated net worth of $13.5bn, and the divorced James Packer, sitting on a more modest $5.5bn media fortune.
Those after a walk on the wild side should look down the list to 664th place for the accordion-playing, fire-breathing founder of Cirque du Soleil, Guy Laliberté. The 47-year-old Canadian founded the animal-free acrobatic show in 1984 and retains 95% of the business. He is worth an estimated $1.5bn.
The top-ranking woman, at number 12, is the 84-year-old L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, with a fortune of $20.7bn. Chat show queen Oprah Winfrey is estimated to be worth $1.5bn.
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Friday, March 09, 2007
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