By DPA
Mexico City/Washington : It no longer seems clear who tops the world of the super-rich, after Mexican media claimed that Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim had surpassed Microsoft founder Bill Gates as the richest man on the planet.
According to the calculations of online magazine Sentido Comun, Slim was worth $67.8 billion at the end of June to Gates' $59.2 billion.
But US magazine Forbes, publisher of the famous annual list of the super-wealthy, maintained that Gates was top dog. A spokesman for Forbes Tuesday said it keeps its list up-to-date on a daily basis, and continued to post Gates as the richest man in the world on its website.
Gates has led Forbes' rich list for the last 13 years.
Sentido Comun reported that Slim's jump was based on the 26.5-percent rise in the shares of America Movil in the second quarter and on the April-June appreciation by 11.1 percent of the titles of Telefonos de Mexico.
In March, Forbes estimated Gates' wealth at $56 billion, with Slim second at $53.1 billion. Slim at that time overtook financial investor Warren Buffett, with $52.4 billion, after gaining 4 billion dollars' worth of assets in two months.