Slim gains on Gates, dislodges Buffett as second richest
Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim has quietly overtaken investor Warren
Buffett to become the world's second-richest man and is now "breathtakingly close" to wresting the top spot from Bill Gates, Forbes magazine reported.
In the two months since Forbes calculated its 2007 wealth rankings, the 67-year-old Slim's companies rose $4 billion in value to $53.1 billion, while Buffett's holdings slipped to $52.4 billion, as of March 29.
In an article on its website on Wednesday, Forbes attributed part of Slim's "amazing run" to a 15 percent increase in share prices of Carso Global Telecom, part of a larger rally in Mexican stocks.
Slim's America Movil cellphone company also soared on news of a possible acquisition of Telecom Italia.
In the 2007 rankings released on March 8 but prepared almost a month earlier Forbes had listed Slim as the world's third-richest man and estimated Gates' fortune at $56 billion.
Slim said shortly afterward that he wasn't concerned about his ranking or taking over the top spot, but expressed differences with Buffett and Gates.
"It's not about having who knows how many bonds, to spend them on whatever one wants or live it up all year," said Slim, an engineer who wears modest suits and whose main indulgence appears to be expensive cigars.
"I don't have apartments abroad, I don't have a house abroad," he said.
Slim, who owns Mexico's dominant phone company, said his vision of a businessman's role in the world is at odds with that of Buffett, who announced last year he would donate $1.5 billion every year to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
"It's very interesting, because he leaves those who are running his affairs the responsibility of being very profitable," Slim said of Buffett.
"If they're inefficient or don't get real-term returns, they're not going to be running anything."
"Our concept is more to accomplish and solve things, rather than giving that is, not going around like Santa Claus," said Slim. "Poverty isn't solved with donations."
Agencies
(China Daily 04/13/2007 page16)
