The new richest man in the world

The new richest man in the world

According to Eduardo Garcia's latest calculations, which first appeared Monday on his Sentido Comun (‘Common Sense’) site, Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim climbed into the No. 1 spot with a fortune of $67.8 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2007.
Slim controls Mexico's largest fixed-line telephone company, Telefonos de Mexico, or Telmex, and owns other businesses in sectors from construction and music to restaurants and cigarettes. Garcia says Slim's current wealth represents nearly 8 percent of Mexico's total Gross Domestic Product.

In April, Forbes magazine reported that Slim had overtaken U.S. investor Warren Buffett to become the world's second-richest person, with holdings of $53 billion.
But according to Garcia, Slim took over the No. 1 spot as early as late March, with a fortune surpassing Gates' by about $1 billion. Garcia attributed Slim's latest rise to a 26.5 percent second-quarter bump in share prices for America Movil SA, the largest wireless service provider in Latin America, which Slim controls. Garcia's estimate of Gates' latest worth is based on a 5.7 percent rise in Microsoft shares during the same period.
Garcia acknowledged that his second-quarter calculations do not include possible gains in Gates' holdings outside of Microsoft, which according to Forbes represent more than half of the software mogul's fortune. He also noted that he does not take into account Slim's holdings outside of his numerous companies.

Forbes did not comment on Garcia's calculations but said its next valuation of Gates' wealth will appear in September, in the annual Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans. A calculation of Slim's worth will be published next March, the magazine said.


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