Forbes magazine has released its list of the world’s wealthiest individuals, and the answer is not who you might think—Bill Gates or, depending on how the stock market is doing, Warren Buffett. Though rest assured, those two take up the second and third slots.
No, the world’s richest individual is Carlos Slim Helú of Mexico. And what’s interesting is that three more in the top ten hail from countries outside the U.S. and Europe: Mukesh Ambani and Lakshmi Mittal of India, and Eike Batista of Brazil.
According to this NYTimes article from a couple years back, Helú has begun to think about giving some of his money away. As mega-fortunes continue to be accumulated in countries that themselves are still considered to be “developing,” how will philanthropy change?
Barry Varela