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 Editorials | Issues | July 2007 
Is Gates Hit by Mexican Wave?
 Times News Network
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| | Carlos Slim Helu has overtaken Microsoft founder Bill Gates as the world's richest man, said Eduardo Garcia, founder and director of sentidocomun.com. (AP/Eduardo Verdugo) |
Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helu, who, a financial website claimed, has dislodged Microsoft founder Bill Gates as the richest person on the planet, added billions to his wealth in the past few months - thanks to a 26.5% single-quarter rise in the shares of America Movil, Latin America's largest mobile company in which he has 33% stake.
Forbes magazine, in its rankings of the world's wealthiest individuals, had in April this year put Slim as the second richest individual in the world, a spot he wrested from legendary US investor Warren Buffett.
On Tuesday, Sentido Comun, a Mexican financial website that has been tracking Slim's billions, reported that the 67-year-old Mexican's wealth had rocketed past Gates'. "The difference between their two fortunes is around $9 billion in favour of Slim," the website said.
If the claims are accurate, Slim made a mind-boggling $17 billion since February-March this year, when Forbes had calculated his worth at $49 billion (it updated the figure to $53.1 billion in April). Apart from his gains in America Movil, shares of Telmex, another of the tycoon's telecom companies, rose 11% and Grupo Financiero Inbursa, his bank, jumped by more than 20%. Microsoft stock rose almost 6% in the same period.
The Mexican website admitted that its Q2 calculations do not include possible gains in Gates' holdings outside of Microsoft, which are said to represent more than half of his fortune. News agency DPA quoted Forbes as refuting the claim that Gates had been dislodged as the world's richest man. Forbes 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.
The cigar-chomping naturalised Mexican, son of Lebanese immigrants, is known as a turnaround specialist. He inherited his father's dry goods store, Star of the Orient, and quickly moved into real estate. During Latin American economic crisis of the early 1980s, Slim snapped up a number of distressed businesses, banking massive profits for Grupo Carso, his industrial group which gained its name from the first three letters of Slim's name and first two of his late wife's, Soumaya Gemayel. Gemayel died in 1999.
Slim moved into bigger league after government sold him its phone monopoly, Telmex, in 1990. Today, 9 out of 10 telephone lines in Mexico are operated by Telmex, prompting charges that Slim has been blocking competition.
He has also made some savvy stock picks. In 1997, Slim bought about 3% of Apple Computer at $17 a share shortly before the company launched its hit iMac. A year later, Apple's shares topped $100. Slim reportedly shuns corporate jets and flashy perks. He operates out of an office described as a 'windowless bunker' and sported a plastic watch through the 1990s. After overseeing his three sons' careers within his empire, Slim no longer deals with the day-to-day affairs of his businesses. |
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