The answer: Mexico.
Meet Mr. Carlos Slim Helú.
Riding surging prices of his telecom holdings, including giant mobile outfit América Móvil (AMX, news, msgs), Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helú has beaten out Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to become the wealthiest person on the planet and nab the top spot on the 2010 Forbes list of the world's billionaires.Slim's fortune has swelled to an estimated $53.5 billion, up $18.5 billion in 12 months. Shares of América Móvil, of which Slim owns a $23 billion stake, were up 35% in the period.
That massive pile of scratch puts him ahead of Gates, the Microsoft (MSFT, news, msgs) co-founder who had held the title of world's richest for 14 of the previous 15 years.
This news is laced with a healthy spoonful of irony. Mexico has long been notorious for its level of poverty, especially when compared to its neighbors to the north. This means that hundreds of people risk their lives every month crawling through deserts and wading through rivers to escape the home of the world's richest man. Seems to be a lack of balance in that, if you ask me.
The full MSN Money article can be found here.
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