The Richest Man in the World

is not named Gates.

MEXICO CITY — Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim has overtaken Microsoft founder Bill Gates as the world's richest man, a Mexican financial journalist who has been tracking the mogul's wealth said today.

Slim, who controls Mexico's largest fixed-line telephone company and owns other businesses involved in everything from construction and music to restaurants and cigarettes, was worth $67.8 billion (euro50 billion) at the end of the second quarter — nearly 8 percent of Mexico's Gross Domestic Product, said Eduardo Garcia, founder and director of sentidocomun.com, a Mexico-based financial news Web site. [SNIP]

In its 2007 World Billionaire's List released in March, Forbes put Slim in third place behind Buffett and calculated Gates' wealth at $56 billion (euro41 billion). At that point, Garcia estimated that Slim already had overtaken Buffett, by about $1 billion (euro740 million) as of the end of this year's first quarter.

Garcia attributes the second-quarter growth in Slim's wealth to a 26.5 percent increase in stock share prices at America Movil SA, the largest wireless service provider in Latin America. Slim controls the company.

Viva el monopolio!