Who Is the Richest Person in the World? Carlos Slim on International Philanthropy (2007)

• Report rights infringement
• published: 11 Aug 2014
• views: 2168

Carlos Slim Helú (born January 28, 1940) is a Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world, but that position has been regained by Bill Gates. His extensive holdings in a considerable number of Mexican companies through his conglomerate, Grupo Carso, SA de CV, have amassed interests in the fields of communications, technology, retailing, and finance. Presently, Slim is the chairman and chief executive of telecommunications companies Telmex and América Móvil. América Móvil, which was Latin America's largest mobile-phone carrier in 2010, accounted for around US$49 billion of Slim's wealth by the end of that year. His corporate holdings as of December 2013 have been estimated at US$71.2 billion. On March 29, 2007, Slim surpassed Warren Buffett as the world's second richest person with an estimated net worth of $53.1 billion compared to Buffet's $52.4 billion.[18] On August 4, 2007, The Wall Street Journal ran a cover story profiling Slim. The article said, "While the market value of his stake in publicly traded companies could decline at any time, at the moment he is probably wealthier than Bill Gates".[19] According to The Wall Street Journal, Slim credits part of his ability to "discover investment opportunities" early to the writings of his friend, futurist author Alvin Toffler.[19] On August 8, 2007, Fortune reported that Slim had overtaken Gates as the world's richest person. Slim's estimated fortune soared to $59 billion, based on the value of his public holdings at the end of July. Gates' net worth was estimated to be at least $58 billion.[19][20] On March 5, 2008, Forbes ranked Slim as the world's second-richest person, behind Warren Buffett and ahead of Bill Gates.[21] On March 11, 2009, Forbes ranked Slim as the world's third-richest person, behind Gates and Buffett and ahead of Larry Ellison.[21] On March 10, 2010, Forbes once again reported that Slim had overtaken Gates as the world's richest person, with a net worth of $53.5 billion. At the time, Gates and Buffett had a net worth of $53 billion and $47 billion respectively.[21] He was the first Mexican to top the list.[22] It was the first time in 16 years that the person on top of the list was not from the United States.[23] It was also the first time the person at the top of the list was from an "emerging economy."[24] In March 2011, Forbes stated that Slim had maintained his position as the wealthiest person in the world, with his fortune estimated at $74 billion.[3] In December 2012, According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Carlos Slim Helú remains the world's richest person with an estimated net worth of $75.5 billion.[25] On March 5, 2013, Forbes stated that Slim is still maintaining his first place position as the wealthiest person on the globe, with an estimated net worth of US$73 billion.[26] On May 16, 2013, Bloomberg L.P. ranked Slim the second richest person in the world, after Bill Gates.[27] Slim owns the Duke Seamans mansion, a 1901 Beaux arts house. Inside the house, there are 12 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, a doctor's office in the basement with the size of the mansion pegged at a total of 20,000 sqft. In 1995 he established Fundación Telmex, a broad-ranging philanthropic foundation. This followed the creation of his eponymous non-profit philanthropic foundation, Fundación Carlos Slim Helú in 1986. In 2007 Slim announced that the latter body had been provided with an asset base of $4 billion and that it would be establishing Carso Institutes for Health, Sports and Education. Furthermore, it was to work in support of an initiative of Bill Clinton to aid the people of Latin America.[8] Because Mexican foundations are not required to publish their financial information, it is not possible to confirm Slim's claims of charitable giving through a public source. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Slim