Bill Gates overtaken as world's richest?

Bill Gates is still rich, but he may no longer be the world's richest man.

A Mexican online financial Web site estimates that tycoon Carlos Slim has a net worth of $67 billion, which would place his fortune above that of the Microsoft chairman, according to various media reports. Slim is known for a wide swath of holdings including banking interests, CompUSA and telecommunications firms.

The Mexican site, Sentido Comun, noted Slim's rising wealth in April, saying that they believed he had passed both then No. 2 Warren Buffet and Gates, Britain's The Guardian said in its report. But with a recent rise in shares of mobile phone carrier America Movil, Sentido Comun founder Eduardo Garcia said, there is no doubt that Slim has surpassed Gates.

Of course, while Slim's fortune has been growing, Gates and Buffet have been looking for ways to give most of their riches away. Not that Gates (and other Microsoft shareholders) wouldn't benefit if the software maker could manage to see the kind of growth that many of Slim's enterprises have been seeing.

And on the flip side, in a New York Times interview, Slim said he is looking toward stepping up his charity work.

[carlyle27]

Guardian

Guardian is NOT a Mexican newspaper. It is British.

[Christopher Hall]

Fun with adjectives!

[i]The Guardian, [b]a Mexican online financial Web site,[/b] estimates that tycoon Carlos Slim has a net worth of $67 billion, which would place his fortune above that of the Microsoft chairman. Slim is known for a wide swath of holdings including banking interests, CompUSA and telecommunications firms.[/i]

In case they edit the passage, I think it's important we immortalize it here for the sake of comedy.

[chiefhopper]

Guardian the Web SIte

Note that the start of the first paragraph says web site not newspaper. To quote:

The Guardian, a Mexican online financial Web site, estimate

[System Tyrant]

Gaurdian source

"Now, thanks to a surge in the shares of his America Movil group, Mr Slim has claimed pole position, according to the Mexican online financial publication, Sentido Común."

Reference: http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2117330,00.html

[ifiredmyboss.com]

Does it count CompUSA as having any Value?

Does it count CompUSA as having any value?
I'd be surprised if they still had a retail store front in the US in a year or two. They are stuck in a tough market.

[nanotech]

Govt Sponsored Monopoly

He has a (or atleast had last time I checked) a government sponsored telephone landline monopoly in Mexico....that's how he got his first millions and his billions.

Even if we say Gates had (and maybe still has) a monopoly, atleast he made it for himself and the govt didn't grant him the right to sell such a basic NECESSITY like telephone lines and make huge profits off of it from poor people.

[ferretboy88]

Bill Gates doesn't care at all. he donates money

Bill Gates has donated so much money its crazy to even think about
it. He doesn't give a rats tail if hes the riches or whatever. if he
want to stay the richest he would have never donated billions to
poor kids.

[GuRu84]

Agreed.

Well said!

[BJBubbaJones]

Either bull or Gates just donates a lot

Microsoft is worth more than what people think. Gates has also donated a percentage of his income to many things which I'm sure Slim (whom I've never heard of before) is just taking as much in as he can.