The worlds's richest man

Carlos Slim Helú Aglamaz was born in Mexico City on January 28th 1940 the sone of Julián Slim Haddad Aglamaz, a Lebanese Marronite Christian who had emigrated from the Lebanese hill village of Jezzine as a teenager.

90% of the telephone lines in Mexico are operated by Telmex which he bought when the Mexican phone system was privatised. Telcel is the local mobile company with 80% of all cellphones in Mexico. Both companies are largely owned and operated by Slim.

His wireless carrier América Móvil has more than 125 million users (Dec 2006) across a slew of mobile phone companies he owns across South America - he bought Verizon's SA interests last year for US$3.6Bn.

His worth is estimated at US$67.9 Billion which is equivalent to 7% of Mexico's annual output.

He is 67. He is the world's richest man.

... and you have probably never heard of him

UPDATE 4/8/07 Wall Street Journal have a lengthy. detailed and insteresting article about Slim yestreday.

The pic BTW is of King Midas about to be torched ( a fate he esacpes incidentally) on a Greek urn.