Carlos Slim's Fat Fortune

The Mexican telecom magnate may have surpassed Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates as the world's richest man

by Geri Smith

Another month, another $3.5 billion dollars. That's the rate at which Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's fortune has been multiplying this year. The rapid accumulation of wealth may have already pushed him past Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates to become the world's richest man.

Share prices are up 39% so far this year for Slim's América Móvil (AMX), the predominant wireless operator in Latin America. The stock of his fixed-line telephone company Telefonos de Mexico (TMX), which has a 90% market share in his native Mexico, is up 34%. Even his new regional infrastructure company, IDEAL, has seen its share price climb 28% this year, better than the Mexico stock exchange's 19.2% average.

Four months ago, when BusinessWeek sat down with the 67-year-old magnate for a two-hour interview, his net worth—which he shares with his six adult children—was estimated at $54 billion. But now, Mexican financial newsletter Sentido Común (Common Sense), crunching the most recent share-price indicators at the end of the second quarter, figures his fortune has climbed to $67.8 billion, outstripping that of Gates.

Latin America's Biggest Corporate Giver

Slim, long known for his ability to spot undervalued companies and turn them into efficient, profitable enterprises, has often been called the "Warren Buffett of Latin America." But now the portly, cigar-puffing Slim is likely to be the one to whom other wealthy, rising entrepreneurs around the world will be compared. And now that Buffett has pledged to give away billions to Gates' charitable foundation, there is growing public pressure for Slim to start giving away more of his billions.

In a recent interview with BusinessWeek, the savvy businessman said he was starting to significantly boost his charitable activities (see BusinessWeek.com, 3/5/07, "Slim's Big Giveaway"). The $1.2 billion endowment of his telecom company's Telmex Foundation makes it Latin America's largest corporate giver. But Slim is taking money out of his own pocket as well, last year doubling the size of his family charity, the Carso Foundation, to $2.5 billion.

In recent weeks, the Telmex Foundation has been publishing daily, three-color, full-page advertisements in major Mexican newspapers to publicize its many charitable programs, which, among other things, provide bicycles to rural children so they can get to school and provide free surgical operations for the poor. Slim also just donated $100 million to the Clinton Foundation. Still, so far his charitable deeds pale in comparison to those of Gates and Buffett, as a percentage of his overall net worth. One reason: Mexico has no estate tax, so there is no pressure on him to turn his assets over to his six children, three of whom work side by side with him and now run the family empire.