Who is the world’s richest person? What did he do to make him/her the way she is now?

CARLOS SLIM HELU.

Mexico’s telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim has overtaken Bill Gates to become the world’s richest person, according to a respected Mexican financial website.

Mr Slim is now worth $67.8bn (£33.6bn), above Microsoft founder Mr Gates’ $59.2bn, Sentido Comun says.

It said Mr Slim’s wealth has rocketed into top place after the recent 27% surge in the share price of his largest company, America Movil.

He has a 33% stake in the firm, Latin America’s largest mobile phone network.

i think its bill gates ( or he is 2nd now ) , he got there by designing and devolpeing his OS windows and also engineering on the microprocessor , he owns Microsoft one of the world’s largest companies , which is lead in software development along with there Xbox gaming console among other things

Edit : Carlos Slim is now richest man , at 67.9 billion or somthing

officially Bill Gates (Founder and CEO of Microsoft) is the richest person on the books.

Other notables are the Sultan of Brunei (small Asian pacific Country with massive oil reserves), he has been in the top list of 10 or so for many many years

The richest Woman in the world/ Black Woman / Black Person is of course Oprah Winfrey..she is a TALKSHOW HOST. To think that a talkshow host makes more money then condelizza rice. But if you ever watch her show you’d know why..that woman IS good. lol

thought id share that info.

update It was a bad day for Bill.

Not only did the government issue a stinging recommendation that the world’s largest software company be hacked into two pieces, but Microsoft chairman Bill Gates’ also lost his crown as the world’s richest man.

Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison–Gates’ longtime nemesis in the ego-driven technology industry–now holds the top spot. Based on the closing prices of Oracle and Microsoft stock, Ellison is worth $53 billion, compared to Gates’ $51.75 billion.

Although Ellison has topped Gates, at least temporarily, it’s not accurate to call him the world’s richest person just yet. Just as Ellison’s wealth has soared in the past year, it’s possible that another captain of industry, billionaire investor or foreign prince has also seen a surge in his or her net worth.

The duel between Ellison, a polished Silicon Valley celebrity, and Gates, a halting technophile who lives near Seattle, is one of the most acrimonious and public of any in American business. The media has zealously monitored the stock prices of the two companies in recent weeks; a flood of “poor Bill” stories have provided a backdrop to the relatively dry Justice Department proceedings.

The reversal in the two men’s wealth gives new depth to Gates’ own characterization of the antitrust events this afternoon as “very disturbing.” The recent weakness in Microsoft shares is due largely to the antitrust suit hanging over the company–a case that will likely take years to shake out.

According to the October edition of Forbes, Bill Gates was the world’s richest man last year, with a net worth of $85 billion. Ellison trailed badly with a relatively paltry $13 billion.

But according to the most current Securities and Exchange Commission records of the technology titans’ holdings, Gates, 44, is sitting on 742 million Microsoft shares worth $51.75 billion, based on today’s closing price of $69.75. Ellison’s 663 million shares of Oracle, meanwhile, are valued at $53 billion, based on today’s closing price of $79.94.

The most common method for calculating the net worth of billionaires is to look at the millions of shares they hold in the public companies they founded. As a result, the calculations do not include other investments or assets these billionaires hold.

Ellison, for example, has 19 million shares of Oracle spinoff Liberate Technologies, which are valued at more than $600 million. Gates also has untold riches in investments and assets that are not publicly known.

In addition, Gates has made highly publicized donations of billions of dollars.

Though he hasn’t publicly boasted of his increasing wealth relative to that of his rival, Ellison has not wasted any time jumping into the anti-Microsoft fray. Early in the drawn-out antitrust proceedings, Ellison dubbed Gates the “PC pope” because of his company’s dominance over who is allowed to build PCs.

Last December, Ellison told reporters at his mansion in the posh Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco that he believes

*The guy below is on top for the moment but it changes real often.

The World’s Billionaires

#3 Carlos Slim Helu

03.08.07, 6:00 PM ET

©AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco

Age: 67

Fortune: self made Source: telecom

Net Worth: $49.0 bil

Country Of Citizenship: Mexico

Residence: Mexico City , Mexico, Latin America

Industry: Communications

Marital Status: widowed, 6 children

Education:

The world’s third-richest man is $19 billion richer this year and catching up with Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett thanks to a strong Mexican equities market and the performance of his wireless telephone company, America Movil. The son of a Lebanese immigrant, Slim made his first fortune in 1990 when he bought fixed line operator Teléfonos de México (Telmex) in a privatization. Last year he spent $3.7 billion to buy the Latin American operations of Verizon Communications, expanding his empire into Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. A widower and father of 6, Slim is a baseball fan and art collector. He keeps his art collection in Mexico City’s Museo Soumaya, which he named after his late wife. In recent years he has donated close to $4 billion to education and health projects, and to the revitalization of downtown Mexico City’s historical district.

bill gates – him and his other friend both created microsoft

i always thought it was that microsoft geezer, never heard of that carlos guy.