MEXICO CITY — Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim is the world's richest person, jumping past Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to become the first person from a developing nation to top the list, according to Forbes magazine.
The rise of Slim, the son of an immigrant shopkeeper who amassed a $53.5 billion fortune and bought a major stake in the New York Times, is part of an increased presence on the list of billionaires from emerging countries, said Forbes' reporter Keren Blankfeld.
Slim's worth surged in the past year as his cell phone holdings rebounded in value. He is the first non-American to top the list since 1994.
Arturo Elias Ayub, an executive at Slim's Telmex telephone company and the billionaire's son-in-law, expressed satisfaction that a Mexican businessman is now at the top of the list.
"The reaction is one of satisfaction, that this confidence in Mexico exists, and this confidence in our group's companies," said Elias Ayub, who frequently acts as Slim's spokesman.
But he said the 70-year-old magnate is not breaking out the champagne.
"This is a number brought out by a magazine that doesn't concern us, or worry us," said Elias Ayub, echoing Slim's 2007 comment about the top spot that had eluded him for years: a Spanish phrase – "me es impermeable" – that roughly translates as "I'm impervious to that."
Slim is known for wearing inexpensive suits and rarely using the computers his companies sell, preferring old-style paper notebooks. A baseball fan, his indulgences are largely limited to cigars and diet soft drinks.
While he owns – either personally or through his foundations and museums – an impressive collection of art, including works by French sculptor Auguste Rodin, he works out of a set of somewhat dowdy, 1970s-style offices.
