Carlos Slim Helu has been named the wealthiest person in the world and therefore retains the title for the third year in a row. His corporate holdings are worth a tremendous $69 billion!

This makes him the richest man in the world. His holdings are worth two billion more than the second richest person on the planet: Bill Gates. Number three is Warren Buffet who is worth $29 billion.

The self-made Mexican is the president of America Movil, a telecom giant based in South America. It’s the third largest telecom provider in the world and the largest wireless telecom supplier in Latin America. In the Americas, the company operates in 18 different countries. It has more than 30 million fixed lines, 251 million mobile customers, 15 million television subscribers and 16 million broadband access points. Slim Helu owns a large number of holdings in Mexican retailing, finance, communications and technology companies through his Grupo Carso conglomerate. This is not all however, as he is chairman of another big telecom company, Telmex.

Last year was not very successful financially because he lost £3 billion, as a result of lower share. This year there have also been some difficulties as America Movil were fined £0.6 bn for anti-competitive business tactics, by Mexican regulators. The Mexican is appealing this decision however.

Slim Helu also undertakes philanthropic work with his Telmex Foundation and the Carlos Slim foundation. Most of his money goes to the development of the human capacity. Carlos Slim Helu lives in Mexico-City. He is a widower and has six children.