Carlos Slim is now the world’s richest man is worth an estimated $US67.8 billion. This Mexican tycoon has overtaken Warren Buffet and Bill Gates according to a respected tracker of Mexican financial wealth: Eduardo Garcia from Sentido Comun an online financial publication he founded. A 27 per cent surge in the share price of America Movil, Latin America’s largest cell phone operator controlled by Carlos Slim, from March to June made him close to $8.6 billion wealthier than Bill Gates (which Garcia figures Gates is worth $59.2 billion). Meanwhile, Forbes magazine has reported in April that Slim had overtaken Warren Buffet but not Gates. Forbes had increased Carlos Slim’s net worth because gains from his holding company Carso and fixed-line telecom Telmex added to the Mexican’s fortune while shares of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc fell in the same period. Garcia calculated three months ago that Carlos’ value was just more than gates by a tiny bit but now he has no doubt who is richer. Carlos Slim’s companies rose sharply with shares of Telmex in the second quarter rising 11 percent and Slim’s bank, Inbursa, saw its stock increase by 20 percent. Garcia figures that Slim and his family own a fortune equivalent to 8 per cent of Mexico’s gross domestic product. According to Sentido Comun, for Gates to be worth 8 percent of the U.S. economy, his fortune would have to grow to more than $13 trillion, 17 times his current wealth.