Mexico's Slim, No. 2 in Fat City

Telephone Tycoon Rises Into Gates's Shadow

A popular saying in Mexico goes like this: You can't get out of bed in the morning without putting money into Carlos Slim's pocket.

Carlos Slim Helú, 67, is el jefe of the Mexican telecommunications industry. He is probably the richest man most Americans have never heard of.

That may soon change. In Forbes magazine's annual ranking of the world's richest, released last month, Slim was third. Since then, Forbes estimates that Slim added $4.1 billion to his fortune, surpassing super-investor Warren E. Buffett.

Now only Microsoft's Bill Gates stands between Slim and global dominance. But even Gates does not loom over the U.S. consumer landscape the way the cigar-loving, fine-living Slim does in Mexico.

With a fortune estimated by Forbes at $53.1 billion and rising, he pushed Buffett ($52.4 billion) down a notch, as shares of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway have declined slightly since the beginning of the year. Slim is known as the Latin American Buffett and the Mexican Midas for his golden touch. (Buffett is a member of The Washington Post Co.'s board of directors, as is Melinda Gates, Bill Gates's wife.)

Some Fun Facts about Slim, telephone mogul and budding philanthropist, most courtesy of Forbes:

· His wealth is equivalent to about 7 percent of Mexico's entire annual economic output.

· His Carso Global Telecom controls 90 percent of Mexico's telephone land lines.

· By contrast, his América Móvil controls a mere 72 percent of Mexico's cellphone market.