Bill Gates is not the Richest Man Any More...

[versas]

Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helu has overtaken Microsoft founder Bill Gates as the richest person on the planet, read more...

[rob2009]

Interesting.

Nice find.

[usakos]

Carlos is doing what Bill used to do; monopolize the telecom service in Mexico and most part of Latin America. Bill needs a new hot product, apart from the Windows and Office products. I think Warren used to be the richest men and Bill surpassed him. But Carlos passed Warren in last Forbes' list of richest man to rank #2, behind Bill. Part of the reason why Bill and Warren are legging behind is too because they have donated most of their wealth to Bill's foundation.

[rob2009]

Carlos is doing what Bill used to do; monopolize the telecom service in Mexico and most part of Latin America. Bill needs a new hot product, apart from the Windows and Office products. I think Warren used to be the richest man and Bill surpassed him. But Carlos passed Warren in last Forbes' list of richest man to rank #2, behind Bill. Part of the reason why Bill and Warren are legging behind is too because they have donated most of their wealth to Bill's foundation.

it has been a while since he wasn't the richest man in the world, so we will see how he reacts. Maybe he liked the title and he will stop giving as much to charity or really try to give out some new quality software...hopefully nothing like vista....lol

[ceo77]

Bill Gates gives away billions of dollars to charity. If it weren't for his charitable contributions, he would still be a distant first place candidate. He never really liked being known as the worlds richest man anyway.

I find it ironic that the worlds richest man now lives in a country where thousands flee just to earn american minimum wage and where a large amount of its citizens earn a few dollars A WEEK.

[olani]

I love your post ceo77! I think the same. It's a success for Bill Gates to have lost his label of the richest man thanks to his charity activity. Nevertheless, it's a shame for Mr. Slim Helu to be the richest man of the world when his country is a third world country.

By the way, in the forbes.com list Bill Gates remains the richest man. Maybe it's outdated because the upgrade it anually..

[radreality]

Whats interesting is that neither of them are actually the richest. There are oil families in the middles east that aren't taken into consideration for these lists. Carlos Slim Helu and Bill Gates are small timers compared to them.

______________________________
Robert Falk
Business Developer / Investor
Self Help & Success Forum

[DrMoney]

I 2nd that ceo77

[versas]

Whats interesting is that neither of them are actually the richest. There are oil families in the middles east that aren't taken into consideration for these lists. Carlos Slim Helu and Bill Gates are small timers compared to them.

That's irrelevant because these lists pertain to individuals, as they always were.

[Cameron]

Anything over a billion dollars is irrelevant...

[radreality]

Anything over a billion dollars is irrelevant...

Why? lol. If someone thinks $100,000 is a lot, should they just not care about anything over that amount? You can do a lot with a billion. You can do even more with 2 billion, and even more with 5 billion.

I would agree that any sum of money (a billion or not) is irrelevant, IF you aren't doing anything with it.

______________________________
Robert Falk
Business Developer / Investor
Self Help & Success Forum

[rob2009]

At one point while Gates was still the "richest man in the world" the Sultan of Brunei actually was the richest. Some consider a sultan more than a man, so he couldn't be the richest man in the world.

I dont know if this is still true, may not be the richest anymore.

[ProLogic]

Bill Gates gives away billions of dollars to charity. If it weren't for his charitable contributions, he would still be a distant first place candidate. He never really liked being known as the worlds richest man anyway.

I find it ironic that the worlds richest man now lives in a country where thousands flee just to earn american minimum wage and where a large amount of its citizens earn a few dollars A WEEK.

I highly doubt he would still be the richest. This guy made close to $3 billion in three weeks, around the time when he passed Buffet. He is $8 Billion ahead from Gates, which is a tremendous lead.


Here's an article:

Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim is the world's richest man, worth an estimated $67.8 billion, after overtaking Microsoft founder Bill Gates, according to a respected tracker of Mexican financial wealth on Monday.

A 27% surge in the share price of America Movil, Latin America's largest cell phone operator controlled by Slim, from March to June made him close to $8.6 billion wealthier than Gates, said Eduardo Garcia in Sentido Comun, the online financial publication he founded.

Garcia estimated that Gates was worth $59.2 billion.

Carlos Slim
AP
Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim.
Forbes magazine reported in April that Slim had overtaken billionaire investor Warren Buffett for the No. 2 spot in the world's richest stakes but was still behind Gates.

Mexico has a huge rich-poor divide, with a tiny elite holding most of the country's wealth and around half the population living on less than $5 a day.

Forbes bumped up Slim because gains from his holding company Carso and fixed-line telecom Telmex added to the Mexican's fortune while shares of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway
Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK)
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[BRK 110970.0 970.00 (+0.88%) ] fell in the same period.

Three months ago, Sentido Comun's Garcia begged to differ with Forbes and calculated Slim's wealth as more than Gates' -- but only by a whisker. Now he says there is no doubt whose fortune is bigger at current share values.

"When I put Slim ahead three months ago Forbes bumped him up to second place (in world rankings) a few days later," Garcia, also the publication's editor-in-chief, told Reuters. "Let's see if the same happens again."

Spokespeople at Forbes magazine were not immediately available for comment.

Garcia, who uses Forbes' calculations for U.S. billionaires' wealth, says the 5.7% increase in Microsoft
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[MSFT 29.99 -0.03 (-0.1%) ] share prices in the second quarter is no match for the sharp rise in valuations of Slim's companies.

Shares of Telmex in the second quarter rose 11% and Slim's bank, Inbursa, saw its stock advance 20 percent.

Garcia's Sentido Comun, which translates as "common sense," reckons Slim and his family own a fortune equivalent to 8% of Mexico's gross domestic product.

For Gates to be worth 8% of the U.S. economy, his fortune would have to grow to more than $13 trillion, 17 times his current wealth, according to Sentido Comun.

Slim, known for his Midas touch in turning around struggling businesses and turning them into profit-making machines, told Reuters in an interview this year he was not in the habit of calculating his fortune on a regular basis.

Slim and his chief spokesman Arturo Elias Ayub were not immediately available for comment.

Source: http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2056114,00.html

More recently, Mr Slim has developed a charitable foundation aimed at improving healthcare and education in his country, pledging funds of $10bn over four years. He has made it clear, however, that he does not intend to loosen his grip on his empire, telling Reuters: "Wealth is like an orchard. You have to share the fruit, not the trees."

Ceo77, Proof that he also donates his money.

[AndresM]

i agree with pro logic, and i had already posted this news like 3 days ago

[zoobie]

yup, Bill Gates is no longer the richest man in the world...well, I guess he needs to give others a chance...he had been the richest man for decade...^^;