12 March,2010 10:21 AM IST | | Special Features
Mexican tycoon Carlo Slim Helu is officially the richest man in the world with a fortune of $53.5 billion. He's beaten Bill Gates who held the title for 15 years in a magazine's list of the world billionaires. Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani took the fourth place while steel czar Laxmi Mittal was close at heels on number five. CS gives you more information about Carlo, the moneybag:u00a0
>>u00a0A Mexican engineer, businessman and philanthropist, Carlo is largely focused on the telecommunications industry.u00a0
>>u00a0Carlo studied engineering. By the time he was 26 years old, his net worth was $40 million.
>>u00a0During the Latin American economic crisis of the early 1980s, he made a name, and substantial profits, for himself by buying out many struggling companies at rock-bottom deals before turning around their fortunes.
>>u00a0He has recently made it known in the Mexican press that he will soon announce his intentions to acquire a Major League Soccer franchise to be located in Queens, New York.
>>u00a0The Mexican magnate's rising fortune has caused a controversy because it has been amassed in a developing country where per capita income does not surpass $14,500 a year, and nearly 17 per cent of the population lives in poverty. Slim's wealth is the equivalent of roughly two per cent of Mexico's annual economic output.
