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Bill Gates overtaken as world's richest?

A Mexican financial Web site says that, with an estimated net worth of more than $67 billion, tycoon Carlos Slim has overtaken the Microsoft chairman as the world's richest man.

Ina Fried Former Staff writer, CNET News
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley.
Ina Fried

Bill Gates is still rich, but he may no longer be the world's richest man.

A Mexican online financial Web site estimates that tycoon Carlos Slim has a net worth of $67 billion, which would place his fortune above that of the Microsoft chairman, according to various media reports. Slim is known for a wide swath of holdings including banking interests, CompUSA and telecommunications firms.

The Mexican site, Sentido Comun, noted Slim's rising wealth in April, saying that they believed he had passed both then No. 2 Warren Buffet and Gates, Britain's The Guardian said in its report. But with a recent rise in shares of mobile phone carrier America Movil, Sentido Comun founder Eduardo Garcia said, there is no doubt that Slim has surpassed Gates.

Of course, while Slim's fortune has been growing, Gates and Buffet have been looking for ways to give most of their riches away. Not that Gates (and other Microsoft shareholders) wouldn't benefit if the software maker could manage to see the kind of growth that many of Slim's enterprises have been seeing.

And on the flip side, in a New York Times interview, Slim said he is looking toward stepping up his charity work.