Bill Gates was the world’s richest man with an estimated worth of $56 billion but Mexico’s Carlos Slim has surpassed Gates with an estimated worth of $60 billion according to Fortune magazine, with more than 200 companies in many fields leading one restaurant in Mexico City to joke, “This restaurant is the only
place in Mexico not owned by Carlos Slim.”Born to Lebanese parents, Slim made most of his money in the telecommunications market with his Telefonos de Mexico SAB and cell phone company Telcel, controlling 92 percent of all landlines and 73 percent of all cell phones in Mexico.In 1982, the oil prices in Mexico went down which led to Mexico’s banks being nationalized. The people in charge of business feared for the worst – a socialist nation – and sold for as little as 5 percent of companies’ value. Slim picked up many of these companies buying Mexico’s largest insurer Seguros de Mexico for $44 million. Today, Seguros de Mexico is worth $2.5 billion according to the Wall Street Journal.Slim is Mexico’s largest employer and taxpayer. Other companies have cried foul in Slim’s businesses for having too much of a monopoly. Mexico’s new president, Felipe Calderon has a tough challenge ahead of him in whether he’ll allow Slim to avoid government regulation.