Carlos Slim tops annual list of billionaires

Mexico’s telecom tycoon Carlos Slim edged out Microsoft founder Bill Gates and super-investor Warren Buffett for the top spot on Forbes magazine’s annual list of billionaires, becoming the first person from a developing country to lead the rankings. India and China dominate the Forbes rich list.

For the first time, China has more billionaires overall than India and every other country except the United States, but India’s billionaires are stunningly richer. Ten of Asia’s top 25 billionaires are Indian, while only one is from China. The three richest Indians — the feuding Ambani brothers Mukesh and Anil and steel empire builder Lakshmi Mittal — together have more wealth than the top 24 Chinese billionaires combined. Eight Indians make the top 100 and Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and Mittal belong in the top 5.

Last year, roiled by the global downturn, Anil Ambani saw his net worth shrink the most among all the billionaire set and nearly two dozen Indian billionaires fell off the Forbes annual list. But by the end of the year, with the economy chugging back to 7% growth, fortunes have turned.

With 50 billionaires in 2010, up from 24 the year before, India is one of 11 nations to have more than doubled the number of billionaires. It is a sign of how India has weathered the financial Armageddon better than most recession-wracked economies in the West.   

“The global economy is recovering. The financial markets came back, especially emerging markets,” the magazine’s editor-in-chief Steve Forbes said on Thursday. “There’s a 50% increase in general global wealth compared to last year.”

While leading the Indian charge, Ambani added over $9.5 billion to his net worth in 12 months. Mittal follows with a fortune of $28.7 billion; he gained over $9 billion in one year. Next is Wipro chairman Azim Premji, ranked 28th, with a net worth of $17 billion, although his rank has skyrocketed from 83 last year with an addition of over $11.3 billion.

Mukesh’s brother Anil, who was ranked 34th in 2009, slipped two positions to 36 despite an increase of $3.6 billion in his net worth of $13.7 billion.

Shashi and Ravi Ruia, the promoters of the Essar Group, are 40th, up from 86 last year, with a net worth of $13 billion. The cumulative wealth of Indian billionaires has jumped by $118.9 billion and stands at about $227.9 billion.

The annual list saw Slim, 70, catapult from third place last year to the top spot, thanks to the success of his America Movil company, Latin America’s biggest mobile phone operator. Slim’s fortune was estimated at $53.5 billion, according to Forbes, which said his wealth increased by $18.5 billion in 12 months.

Gates, 54, slipped to second place with $53 billion while Warren Buffett was third with $47 billion.

The US remains by far the dominant home of the super-rich, with 403 billionaires, or 40% of the world’s ten-figure fortune holders, down from 45%. But China has moved up to second place with 64 billionaires, including 27 newly-minted ones. Including Hong Kong, China has 89 billionaires.

Shares in Slim’s America Movil, in which he owns a $23-billion stake, have gained 35% in a year. Slim learned business from his father, a Lebanese immigrant, who gave each of his children a savings book to manage income and expenses. He studied civil engineering and built up the telephone monopoly Telmex after acquiring it from the government in 1990. A widower with six children, Slim has handed over the daily operations of his companies to his three sons.

Forbes counted 1,011 billionaires from 55 countries, up from 793 last year, though still below the pre-crisis 1,125 listed in 2008. The combined wealth of the top 10 has spiked to $342 billion from $254 billion the previous year. The list includes 97 new billionaires, 62 of them charging out of Asia, a region that saw booming stock markets.

Russia comes in third with 62 billionaires, many of them commodity kings who fell off the list last year. Europe is still the number two super-wealthy region, with 248 billionaires. Asia trails Europe by only 14 billionaires and the region’s net worth of $729 billion is double what it was a year ago.

Sorted by city, billionaires congregate first in New York, where there are 60, Moscow (50) and London (32).
With inputs from agencies