Forbes: Mexican tycoon retained as world’s richest man

Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helu whose net worth totals $74 billion remains as the world’s wealthiest man, Forbes said Thursday. He is also the “biggest gainer" on the 2011 Forbes list of world’s richest men, with a $20.5 billion increase since last year, Forbes said in a statement. Slim’s lead over Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates widened to $18 billion. Gates, ranked as world’s second richest, is now worth $56 billion. Gates got the top spot in 2009. The successful mining and real estate spin-offs from Slim-owned conglomerate Grupo Carso contributed to the “astonishing increase" of Slim’s lead over Gates, Forbes.com wrote. Slim’s fortune also grew as he merged his fixed-line telecom company into America Movil, Latin America’s largest wireless carrier, it said. He has other holdings in retailer Saks and the New York Times. [Click here to see Forbes list of the world's richest men] Forbes said this year is a “record-breaking year" as 214 new billionaires joined Forbes annual ranking of the richest people on the planet. Some 1,210 billionaires have an average net worth of $3.7 billion, up from $3.5 billion last year. The US continues to have the most billionaires, with 413. For the first time in more than a decade, Asia has more billionaires (332) on the list than Europe, with 300. China and Russia have more than 100 billionaires each, with 115 and 101, respectively. Moscow, with 79 billionaires, is now home to more billionaires than any other city in the world. Dustin Moskovitz, an American entrepreneur who cofounded the social networking site Facebook is the youngest billionaire at 26. — JE, GMA News