World’s richest is Mexico’s telco magnate (richer than Gates, Buffet)

MANILA, Philippines – Mexico’s telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim Helú retains the top spot in Forbes magazine’s World’s Billionaires for the third year in a row.

This 2012, there are 1,226 individuals who made it to the elite list. Hong Kong’s Li Ka-shing, 83, is the only Asian in the Top 10.

Kazuo Okada, 69, the controversial Japanese businessman who has investments in a Philippine casino, is also part of the list. Okada’s $1.8 billion estimated wealth made him the 719th richest in the world.

Li Ka-shing, Okada and 6 Filipinos are among the 315 from Asia who had a net worth of $1 billion or more.

Below are quick details of the world’s richest (ranked based on net worth):
   
#1 Carlos Slim Helú, $69 billion, age 72, telecom, Mexico
#2 Bill Gates, $61 billion, age 56, Microsoft, US
#3 Warren Buffett, $44 billion, age 81, Berkshire Hathaway, US
#4 Bernard Arnault, $41 billion (Europe’s richest), age 63, LVMH, France
#5 Amancio Ortega, $37.5 billion, age 75, Zara, Spain
#6 Larry Ellison, #36 billion, age 67, Oracle, US
#7 Eike Batista, $30 billion, age 55, mining, oil, Brazil
#8 Stefan Persson, $26 billion, age 64, H&M, Sweden
#9 Li Ka-shing, $25.5 billion, age 83, diversified, Hong Kong
#10 Karl Albrecht, $25.4 billion, age 92, Aldi, Germany

Watch Forbes’ interview with the world’s richest man:

Watch Forbes’ video report below on how they ranked the world’s richest in 2012 and their observations:

 – Rappler.com