Carlos Slim has world's fattest wallet, again

Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim has made the top of the Forbes rich list for a second consecutive year with a fortune of $74 billion in investments from telecoms to oil and art.

Slim saw his fortune inflate $20.5 billion in 2011, according to Forbes, placing him a large step above US tycoons Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, who have recently given large chunks of their fortunes to charity.

The 71-year-old mustachioed Mexican, who is of Lebanese origin, earned his wealth building up the telephone monopoly Telmex after acquiring it from the Mexican government in 1990.

Telmex and cell phone company Telcel, also the country's largest, are currently fighting disputes with Mexican cable and telephone companies seeking more access to their telephone infrastructure, as Slim seeks to move into TV.

But that has failed to distract him from a hive of activity, even opening a spectacular Mexico City museum this month, drawing on his collection of more than 66,000 works of art, including masters such as Rodin, Cezanne and Renoir.

Last month, Slim's Grupo Carso announced it would acquire 70 percent of the Tabasco Oil, which has exploration and production operations in Colombia.

Meanwhile in January, Slim said he would invest $8.3 billion dollars this year in 19 countries, mostly in Latin America.

"Whomever doesn't invest for any reason, out of fear, precaution or whatever, will stay behind," the billionaire said at a recent news conference.

"Whomever doesn't invest in telecoms, for example, will then accuse us of being dominant and monopolistic and such things, but you have to invest," he added, in a jab at the companies with which he is at odds.

A recent biography claimed Slim limits his monthly salary to 24,000 dollars and travels in a Suburban, while his lack of ostentation is noted by many who meet him.

Slim began his business career aged 10, selling sweets and drinks to his family, and later made his name with aggressive investments during crises.

His empire is ever-present in Mexico, including department stores, construction companies, mining and the Inbursa financial group, as well as across Latin America.

He loaned 250 million dollars to the New York Times in January 2009, which the company plans to pay back early next year.

Slim's private art collection is the largest in Latin America, including some 300 works by French sculptor Auguste Rodin.

Many of the artworks are now on display in the curving, metal Soumaya Museum, named after Slim's late wife, which is part of an 800-million-dollar urban development scheme in Mexico City.

Slim said the museum aimed to boost "human development," underlining that there would be no entrance fee.

A baseball fanatic, Slim has handed over the daily operations of his companies to family members and business partners.

Asia displaces Europe in billionaire count

Meanwhile, the number of billionaires in Asia's booming new economies has displaced Europe, coming second only to the United States.

So powerful is the Asian boom that even Europe's biggest billionaire factory -- Russia -- owes much of its wealth to demand from tiger economies looking for raw materials.

"China really set the tone this year," said Forbes senior editor Luisa Kroll. "Asia for the first time has more billionaires than Europe."

The billionaire surge saw an increase in China from 69 to 115, Hong Kong from 25 to 36, India from 49 to 55 and across the Asia-Pacific as a whole from 234 to 332.

That easily beats Europe's 300 billionaires, 101 of which are Russian, including 79 living in Moscow -- officially the world billionaire capital.

Kroll said the dynamics behind Asian success were booming stock markets and business-friendly governments.

European gains, led by Russia's commodities barons, were largely due to Asian appetite for raw materials, or luxury goods.

"It is much easier to get rich today if you go live in Shanghai. If I were 22 years old and an entrepreneur and maybe could speak Mandarin... I'd high-tail it there," Kroll said.

Meanwhile, the United States remains the biggest billionaire magnet on the planet, with 413. But the share continues to slip every year, giving way to the Asian economic phenomenon.

A decade ago, more than half of the world's billionaires were US citizens, while only about a third are today.

In the individual stakes, Mexican telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim Helu remained the world's richest person.

Slim, who is almost unknown to the general public outside Mexico, weighed in at a staggering $74 billion of net wealth thanks to his telecoms empire. Already the top dog last year, he increased his fortune by $20.5 billion dollars.

In a now familiar second place was Microsoft founder Bill Gates with $56 billion. The relatively lowly ranking reflected his enormous philanthropic give-aways over the year, Forbes said.

Next up was US investment guru Warren Buffett and Frenchman Bernard Arnault from the luxury goods group LVMH with $50 billion and $41 billion respectively.

Worldwide, the number of the ultra rich hit a record 1,210, up from 1,011 last year. The increase reflects economic trends, said Steve Forbes, editor-in-chief of the magazine bearing his name.

"The global economy is recovering, but it's not spread all across the board," he said. "The list reflects the extraordinary changes taking place in the global economy."

There are "literally millions of people around the world who have the opportunity to be creative," Forbes said.

With much of the world still feeling the aftershocks of a deep recession, the annual ritual of the billionaires list can at first seem out of touch with reality.

But Forbes editors said most of the names on the list were themselves people who had made good after overcoming difficulties and failures.

"These are people, contrary to the Hollywood myth... these are very scrappy individuals, very focused individuals," Forbes said.

Kroll said people who become billionaires need luck and determination, but also a little extra.

"They are unique people. Sometimes I think they're a little offbeat," she said.