Slim’s pickings: $53bn and counting

Billionaire Carlos Slim Helu hasn’t got where he is today by being charitable, writes
philip delves broughton

Bill Gates once said that nothing good came from being the richest man in the world. The money was fine, but the attention was awful. Luckily for him, he could soon lose his title to Carlos Slim Helu, 67, a jowly, implacable Mexican businessman (right) ripped from the pages of a Latin American novel.

On the latest Forbes list of the world's richest people, Slim Helu's fortune was estimated at $53bn, just $3bn behind Gates. It has grown by $19bn in the past year alone, taking him past the American investor Warren Buffett.

Not that you would ever guess from his public demeanour. Slim