NPR: Mexican Businessman May Be World's Richest Man

Mexican Businessman May Be World's Richest Man

Carlos Slim Helu

Getty Images

If you thought Microsoft founder Bill Gates was raking it in, look up Carlos Slim Helu.

The Mexican telecommunications magnate has reportedly become the world's richest man.

A Mexican journalist says Helu, who heads the phone company Tel Mex, is worth nearly $68 billion.

In its most recent report, Forbes magazine says he's not worth quite that much. They still rank him behind Gates -- $56 billion to $49 billion respectively.

Helu says he doesn't pay much attention the rankings, since he's not in a race to the top.

In case you were wondering, here are the richest people in the world, according to Forbes:

Rank	Name	Citizenship	Age	Net Worth ($bil)	Residence
1	William Gates III	United States	51	56.0	United States
2	Warren Buffett	United States	76	52.0	United States
3	Carlos Slim Helu	Mexico	67	49.0	Mexico
4	Ingvar Kamprad & family	Sweden	80	33.0	Switzerland
5	Lakshmi Mittal	India	56	32.0	United Kingdom
6	Sheldon Adelson	United States	73	26.5	United States
7	Bernard Arnault	France	58	26.0	France
8	Amancio Ortega	Spain	71	24.0	Spain
9	Li Ka-shing	Hong Kong	78	23.0	Hong Kong
10	David Thomson & family	Canada	49	22.0	Canada
11	Lawrence Ellison	United States	62	21.5	United States
12	Liliane Bettencourt	France	84	20.7	France
13	Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud	Saudi Arabia	50	20.3	Saudi Arabia
14	Mukesh Ambani	India	49	20.1	India
15	Karl Albrecht	Germany	87	20.0	Germany
16	Roman Abramovich	Russia	40	18.7	United Kingdom
17	Stefan Persson	Sweden	59	18.4	Sweden
18	Anil Ambani	India	47	18.2	India
19	Paul Allen	United States	54	18.0	United States
20	Theo Albrecht	Germany	84	17.5	Germany
21	Azim Premji	India	61	17.1	India
22	Lee Shau Kee	Hong Kong	79	17.0	Hong Kong
23	Jim Walton	United States	59	16.8	United States
24	Christy Walton & family	United States	52	16.7	United States
24	S Robson Walton	United States	63	16.7	United States

Geoffrey Bennett

1:30 PM ET | 07- 4-2007 | permalink

comments | | e-mail

Comments

View all comments »

Add a Comment

Please note that all comments must adhere to the NPR.org discussion rules and terms of use. See also the Community FAQ.

Hi,
I just want to write directly to Mr. Carlos Slim Helu. Its personal.

Sent by Cristina | 3:25 PM ET | 09-06-2007

E-mail this Page

Recipient's e-mail address:	» Up to twelve addresses, separated by commas.
Your e-mail address:
Your name:
Personal message (optional, 600 characters max):
Your NPR member station:
Are you a member of your local NPR station?	Yes No
Would you like to receive information from your local NPR member station? (see NPR's privacy policy)	Yes No
Please send me updates from NPR.	Yes No

(Information collected by NPR will be used solely for internal NPR or NPR member station purposes and only if you selected 'yes' above. See NPR's privacy policy for more information.)

E-mail |
Print

OUR SOCIAL NETWORKS

About 'News & Views'

News & Views is the companion blog of NPR's news magazine show, News & Notes. It extends News & Notes' ongoing conversation about the diversity of the African-American experience. For more information, read our Frequently Asked Questions guide and our Discussion Rules.