carlos slim

Bill Gates Gives Up "World's Richest Man" Status for Philanthropy

Filed under: Charity, Big Givers, Wealth

On Wednesday, Forbes magazine will publish its annual list of the richest billionaires in the world. It's almost certain to include Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Carlos Slim in the top three, but while Gates has topped the list nearly every year since 1995 (losing out only once to Buffett by a margin of half a billion), this year we're not expecting to see the Microsoft co-founder in the top spot.

The reason for Gates' displacement? His overwhelming philanthropic activity. Although his personal fortune today is estimated around $49 billion, he and his wife Melinda have funneled some $28 billion into their non-profit foundation. As a result, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim – who contributes far less than Gates or Buffett to charity - is expected to top the list.

[Source: Reuters]

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Tags: bill gates, billionaire, billionaires, carlos slim, philanthropy, warren buffett, worlds richest man

A Look Inside The World's Richest Man's New Museum

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art, Wealth

Last fall we saw video renderings of the plans for the new Soumaya museum planned by Mexico's richest man Carlos Slim. The new branch of the museum named for his late wife is the the second one that he has created. The six-story museum was designed by his son-in-law Fernando Romero. The modern and shiny aluminum structure is composed of over 16,000 tiles. The building has five stories of exhibition space totaling 183,000 square feet with six halls. The AP shot some photos as the museum prepared for its inauguration on March 1 by Mexico's President Felipe Calderon.

Tags: auguste rodin, carlos slim, dali, mexico city, mexico city museum, rodin, salvador dali, soumaya museum

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Brokers Stiffed on Sale of Duke-Semans Mansion to World's Richest Man

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Wealth

It seems there was something a bit dodgy about the record $44 million sale of the famed Duke-Semans mansion (above) in New York City to Carlos Slim, the world's richest man, which we wrote about back in July. According to a lawsuit filed by the real estate brokers who had the listing on the palatial residence, former owner Tamir Sapir stiffed them out of nearly $1 million in commission by reneging on a prior agreement to sell the place to a different buyer for $37 million. Since Sapir, a cab driver-turned-fertilizer king, did the deal with Slim directly he ended up paying no brokerage fee, the New York Times reports, noting that the parties have just reached a settlement in the dispute for an undisclosed amount. Sapir bought the historic seven-story Beaux Arts mansion located across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art from relatives of Doris Duke for $40 million in 2006. When Slim took possession the 20,000-square-foot mansion, built in 1901, it had a doctor's office in the basement, a five-story main residence, a penthouse duplex on top, 12 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, and 11 wood-burning fireplaces.

Tags: Carlos Slim, Duke-Semans mansion, estates, mansion, New York City, real estate, Tamir Sapir, wealth

Indian Billionaire to Be World's Richest Man by 2014

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth

Forget Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Carlos Slim: in four years' time the world's richest man will be Indian commodity king Mukesh Ambani (above), Forbes predicts in a new special report on the coming decade in finance and economics. The magazine estimates that Ambani's fortune will have swelled to $62 billion by 2014, outpacing the rest of the contenders, including current world's richest man Carlos Slim who's currently worth $53.5 billion. Mexico's Slim, who's made some risky investments including a large stake in the struggling New York Times, will be "hit hard by Mexican political and financial chaos," Forbes predicts. Ambani, 53, is currently the fourth richest man in the world with a fortune of $29 billion. He is the owner of Antilia, a 27-floor building in Mumbai which includes his family's private residence of 400,000 square feet, making it the world's first billion-dollar home and the largest private home in the world.

Tags: Bill Gates, billionaire, Carlos Slim, Forbes, Mukesh Ambani, Warren Buffet, wealth, worlds richest man

Carlos Slim's Museum To House Huge Rodin Collection

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

The world's richest man, Mexico's Carlos Slim, has had a busy summer. Not only did he pick up the Duke-Semans Mansion in New York for a $44 million, but he's been hard at work on another project, the new branch of his Soumaya museum. The museum in Mexico City is the second one that the has created. The six-story museum, named for his late wife, was designed by son-in-law Fernando Romero. The modern and shiny aluminum structure will contain his treasure trove of artwork by French sculptor Auguste Rodin, the biggest collection outside of France. The new museum will open on November 30 as part of the Mexican bicentennial celebrations and admission will be free.

The building will have five stories of exhibition space totaling 183,000 square feet. A piece by Rufino Tamayo, one of Mexico's best known painters, will grace in the lobby. The Latin American Herald Tribune says that Slim is investing $1.4 billion in Plaza Carso, a complex that will also be home to movie theaters, housing and retail space. Slim has an art collection of 66,000 pieces, a number that makes Eli Broad's 2,000-piece collection seem almost modest my comparison. Check out a couple of video renderings of the project after the jump.

Tags: Auguste Rodin, Carlos Slim, Carlos Slim Helu, mexico city, rodin, soumaya museum

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World's Richest Man Buys Duke-Semans Mansion for $44 Million

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Wealth

Mexican telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim, who beat out Warren Buffet and Bill Gates to capture the title of World's Richest Man earlier this year with an astonishing net worth of $53.5 billion, has purchased the stunning Duke-Semans Mansion in New York for a cool $44 million. As we reported back in January, cab driver-turned-fertilizer king Tamir Sapir had listed the palatial townhouse, said to be the only private mansion left on Fifth Avenue, for $50 million. According to the Wall St. Journal, Slim cut the deal to snag it for $6 million less with Sapir directly. Sapir bought the historic seven-story Beaux Arts mansion located across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art from relatives of Doris Duke for $40 million in 2006. The 20,000-square-foot mansion, built in 1901, currently has a doctor's office in the basement, a five-story main residence, a penthouse duplex on top, 12 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, and 11 wood-burning fireplaces.

Gallery: Duke Semans Mansion

Tags: billionaire, Carlos Slim, celebrity real estate, Doris Duke, Duke Semans Mansion, Duke-Semans Mansion, Fifth Avenue, mansion, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mexico, New York, New York City, real estate, Tamir Sapir, worlds richest man

Carlos Slim Beats Buffet & Gates for World's Richest Man Title

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth

Mexican telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim has beat out Warren Buffet and Bill Gates to capture the title of World's Richest Man, according to Forbes' newly-released rich list. With an astonishing net worth of $53.5 billion, Slim, whose most recent acquisition is a major stake in the struggling New York Times, is the first person from a developing nation ever to be named the world's richest person. The 70-year-old mogul's ever-expanding fortunes - his net worth jumped by $18.5 billion over the past year - is attributable to a spike in value for his his enviable cell phone holdings.

Gates (No. 2) and Buffet (No. 3) have not suffered any reversal of fortune that knocked them down on the list; in fact, Gates is up by $13 billion and Buffet by $10 billion for the year. Rather, the magazine notes, their declining position is due to having given so much money to charitable causes. Slim is known for wearing inexpensive suits and rarely using the computers his companies sell, preferring old-style paper notebooks. While he owns an impressive collection of art, including works by French sculptor Auguste Rodin, the AP notes that he works out of a set of somewhat dowdy, 1970s-style offices.

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Tags: bill gates, billionaire, Carlos Slim, Forbes, Mexico, new york times, warren buffet, worlds richest man

Flawed Collectors in ARTnews Top 10

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

roman abramovich Despite the large flushing sound that's accompanied the art market this year, there are still 10 collectors worth noting. In fact, ARTnews was even able to cobble together a top 200 list this year (if they went to 300, I figure I'd wind up on the list, too, given the state of the art market right now). The names in the top 10 still represent the art collecting elite, they just happen to be in much worse shape than they were at this time last year.

Roman Abramovich, Russian billionaire and art addict, takes the #1 spot. It would be easy to zero in on any one of several purchases last year and call it "defining," but the man spent a few hundred million on art. The most expensive pickup was a Francis Bacon triptych which set him back almost $90 million.

Top 10 Art Collectors (according to ARTnews):

Roman Abramovich
Debra and Leon Black
Edythe L. and Eli Broad
Steven Cohen
Marie-Josee and Henry Kravis
Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder
Francois Pinault
Mitchell Rales
Carlos Slim Helu
Sheikh Saud bin Mohammed bin Ali al-Thani

Okay, so you take a quick look at this list and realize that Abramovich, who requested a bailout from the Russian government, isn't the only flawed personality it contains. Steven A. Cohen, the Connecticut-based hedge fund manager, owns a dead rotting shark. While Damien Hirst's ego is built to last, his creations are more like personal computers ... planned obsolescence. Kravis, who sits atop esteemed and powerful private equity firm KKR, was not left unscathed by the current financial crisis. The precipitous drop in oil prices over the past year must have left the sheikh in a rough spot, and Slim thought he could make money by investing in a newspaper (that's just ~~fucking~~ stupid ... almost as stupid as paying $90 million for a 1970s Bacon, frankly).

Maybe we'll see some changes over the next year. I wouldn't mind writing about an unknown visionary busting into the winners circle at this time next summer. Now, all we have to do is find one.

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Carlos Slim's Environmental Push

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Green, Wealth

Billionaire Carlos Slim has been busy lately. The billionaire who holds the third spot in the Forbes billionaire list, has a fortune of around $35 billion. As part of a commemoration of World Environmental Day, Slim has donated $50 million to start an environmental project in Mexico with the World Wildlife Fund. The donation is part of the creation of a $100 million fund dedicated to Mexico's environment. The new project will focus on six regions in Mexico including the jungles in Chiapas, reefs in Baja California and the nesting ground for monarch butterflies in Michoacan. The World Wildlife Fund will raise the other half of the funds needed from foundations and donors. Slim has also said that he will donate more as the goals of the project are met. The plan will include ways of stimulating the economy in environmentally sensitive areas so that locals don't have to harm the environment to make a living. Mexico is estimated to be losing around 593,000 acres of land a year to logging. Slim made the announcement in Cozumel, Mexico with Carter Roberts, the the President of World Wildlife Foundation and Omar Vidal Director of Wildlife Mexico.

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Number of World's Billionaires in Sharp Decline

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth

My colleague Deidre Woollard just reported that the number of millionaire households in the U.S. has shrunk to its lowest level since 2003. To that we can now add that the number of billionaires in the world has also seen a steep decline.

According to Forbes' newly-released annual list of the world's billionaires, there are now only 793 billionaires around the globe, down from 1,125 a year ago. That means 332 people lost their billionaire status.

This year the exclusive group has an average net worth of $3 billion, down 23% in 12 months, making for a loss of some $1.4 trillion. Americans now account for 44% of the money and 45% of the list's slots, up 7 and 3 percentage points from last year, respectively. Some billionaires have fared better than others, though most have lost masses of money.

Bill Gates lost $18 billion but regained his title as the world's richest man with a $40 billion fortune. Warren Buffett, last year's No. 1, saw his fortune decline $25 billion as shares of Berkshire Hathaway fell nearly 50% in 12 months, and is in the No. 2 slot with $37 billion. Mexican telecom titan Carlos Slim Helú maintains his spot in the top three but lost $25 billion, and is now worth $35 billion.

Gallery: 10 Common Myths About Wealth and Luxury

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Carlos Slim Checking Out Formula One Race Team

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Wealth

In our continuing look at the moves of savvy billionaires, it's hard not to notice that Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecommunications billionaire is taking advantage of the economic downturn. Slim made news in November for picking up 29 million shares of Citigroup for around $150 million and Blogging Stocks reported that he also boosted his stake in luxury retailer Saks buying nearly 7.6 million shares of the company over a four-day period.

Slim's latest move may be one even closer to his heart. Slim, has been spotted visiting the UK headquarters of the Honda Racing F1 team,. Motor Authority reveals that a takeover by Slim would boost the chances of GP2 driver Bruno Senna, who is backed by the Telmex subsidiary Embratel, Slim's company. Other suitors for the beleaguered team include Force India's Vijay Mallya, a Swiss hedge fund and Greek shipping tycoon Achilleas Kallakis. Slim is known for savvy investments and so his interest in the racing team indicates he sees a future in a sport that is currently plagued by economic worries.

Gallery: Big Spenders In A Bad Economy