At a press conference held Thursday in New York, Forbes Editor-in-Chief Steve Forbes announced its annual list of billionaires, with 1,011 individuals making the list, up from 793 last year despite a difficult year for global economies. The list also saw the first non-American at the top since 1994 with Carlos Slim Helu, a Mexican telecommunications tycoon, as the richest man in the world, worth $53.5 billion. Bill Gates was a close second with $53 billion.
Turkey’s performance was also noteworthy, as 28 Turks made the list, up from 13 billionaires the previous year. Hüsnü Özyeğin of the Fiba Group was the richest Turkish billionaire on the list with a net worth of $3 billion at 316th place. Mehmet Emin Karamehmet of Çukurova Holding was 342nd and the second richest Turk, worth $2.9 billion. Following them was Şarık Tara of Enka Construction with $2.6 billion in 367th place.
Turkish papers called Carlos Slim Helu as the worlds richest Turk. Not really but he has an interesting connection to the Ottoman era.
According to Forbes magazine, Carlos Slim Helu with his $ 53,5 billion wealth is the world’s richest individual. He is the the son of an Ottoman immigrant to Mexico in 1902 [1], a man called Yusuf Selim Hattat Ağlamaz who later changed his name to Julian Slim Haddad Aglamaz, a member of Lebanon’s Roman Catholic Church. His first enterprise was a dry goods emporium callled ” La Estrella Del Oriente”, [2] A true “Eastern Star.”
[1] 14 years of age, speaking no Spanish. He was escaping from the Ottoman Empire, which at the time conscripted young men into its army; mothers therefore sent their sons to exile before turning fifteen. And thus Don Julián arrived in Mexico; he was a young man, energetic and full of enthusiasm and ideas, who after disembarking in Veracruz, moved to Tampico, Tamaulipas, where four of his older brothers had already settled since 1898 (José, Elías, Carlos and Pedro Slim) with the conviction that they would succeed together with the country that had received them.
Carlos Slim’s mother, Doña Linda Helú, was born in Parral, Chihuahua. She was the daughter of José Helú and Wadiha Atta, Lebanese immigrants who arrived in Mexico at the end of the 19th century, and after traveling through several cities in the Mexican Republic, decided to settle in the capital city. José Helú brought the first Arabic printing press to Mexico and founded one of the first magazines for the Lebanese community in this country.
[2] La Estrella de Oriente was located on Calle de Capuchinas (today Venustiano Carranza); that, over time and with Don Julián’s extraordinary work ethic and business talent, had merchandise worth more than US$100,000 by January 21, 1921, only ten years after the business was founded. By that time, Don Julián had also acquired eleven more properties in the area, which was one of the most commercial, active and significant in downtown Mexico City.
Link: Fuente : Su página personal : http://www.carlosslim.com/biografia.html