KEY POINTS:
It's official. Mexican telecom billionaire Carlos Slim has overtaken Microsoft founder Bill Gates as the world's wealthiest man with riches of US$59 billion ($78.6 billion), according to Fortune magazine.
Fortune, which tracks the performance of the world's top companies, says Slim has increased his net worth by US$12 billion so far this year based on the market value of his companies listed on stock exchanges.
Fortune's estimate confirms speculation out of Mexico in the past few weeks that he had surpassed Gates.
In its profile of Slim, 67, Fortune said he had a fortune of US$59 billion based on the value of his public holdings at the end of July.
Gates, the Microsoft founder and perennial No 1, had a net worth estimated to be at least US$58 billion, the magazine said.
Slim, the son of a Lebanese immigrant, owns Latin America's largest cellphone company, America Movil.
Fortune said Slim's companies, ranging from a restaurant chain to a bank, made up a third of the Mexican stock market and his family's holdings represented more than 5 per cent of Mexico's gross domestic product last year.
In July, a respected Mexican financial journalist announced that Slim had overtaken Gates as the world's richest man but the magnate said he did not care.
"I don't know if I'm No 1, No 20, or No 2000. It doesn't matter," said the cigar-smoking Slim.
- REUTERS
