lkdood
03-11-2010, 07:40 PM
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Flag_of_Mexico.svg/125px-Flag_of_Mexico.svg.pnghttp://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lEYmT15i6ew/RrfqodroQdI/AAAAAAAAAB4/eQm0siEZxPU/s400/carlos_slim.03.jpg
Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim is the first man from a developing nation to become the world's richest person — a shift that underlines the loosening of America and Europe's stranglehold on the top spots in the billionaires' club.
Slim's arrival at the top aroused both pride and anger in Mexico, where many see his fantastic wealth in a poverty-afflicted nation as a sign of what ails it.
With a recovery in the value of his cell phone holdings pushing his estimated fortune to $53.5 billion, Slim jumped past Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett when Forbes magazine released its 2010 list of the world's wealthiest Wednesday.
The rise of Slim, the 70-year-old son of an immigrant shopkeeper, is just a part of the emergence of billionaires in developing countries, Forbes reporter Keren Blankfeld said. She noted this year's top 10 richest also include two billionaires from India and one from Brazil.
"They're kind of spread. It's a nice spread," Blankfeld said of the list, which had long been dominated by Americans and Europeans.
The full list showed Taiwan tripling its number of billionaires to 18, Turkey more than doubling to 28, and Brazil increasing by 50 percent to 18. Russia also rebounded, almost doubling its number of billionaires to 62 after stock markets there recovered from severe setbacks.
Still, it is hardly time to mark the passing of U.S. dominance: The number American billionaires rose by more than 40 to 403. That is more than six times second-place China with 64 billionaires.
AP (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5grsYhLnmUsX0Fp4aEoqAXF2Mwd3QD9ECDB880)
Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim is the first man from a developing nation to become the world's richest person — a shift that underlines the loosening of America and Europe's stranglehold on the top spots in the billionaires' club.
Slim's arrival at the top aroused both pride and anger in Mexico, where many see his fantastic wealth in a poverty-afflicted nation as a sign of what ails it.
With a recovery in the value of his cell phone holdings pushing his estimated fortune to $53.5 billion, Slim jumped past Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett when Forbes magazine released its 2010 list of the world's wealthiest Wednesday.
The rise of Slim, the 70-year-old son of an immigrant shopkeeper, is just a part of the emergence of billionaires in developing countries, Forbes reporter Keren Blankfeld said. She noted this year's top 10 richest also include two billionaires from India and one from Brazil.
"They're kind of spread. It's a nice spread," Blankfeld said of the list, which had long been dominated by Americans and Europeans.
The full list showed Taiwan tripling its number of billionaires to 18, Turkey more than doubling to 28, and Brazil increasing by 50 percent to 18. Russia also rebounded, almost doubling its number of billionaires to 62 after stock markets there recovered from severe setbacks.
Still, it is hardly time to mark the passing of U.S. dominance: The number American billionaires rose by more than 40 to 403. That is more than six times second-place China with 64 billionaires.
AP (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5grsYhLnmUsX0Fp4aEoqAXF2Mwd3QD9ECDB880)