Forbes released its 2020 list of billionaires worldwide. In Latin America, Mexico and Brazil, the region’s two biggest economies, are also the countries with most people on the ranking. See the top 10 wealthiest Latin Americans below, according to Forbes:
1 – Carlos Slim Helu is the wealthiest man in Latin America. Mexico‘s richest man has a net worth of $52.1 billion. Alongside his family, he controls America Móvil, Latin America’s biggest mobile telecom firm.
2 – Joseph Safra, with a net worth of $19.9 billion, deceased in December 2020. He descended from a banking family with origins in Syria and was the world’s richest banker. In Brazil, he owned Banco Safra, the country’s 8th largest bank, while in Switzerland, he owned J. Safra Sarasin, a bank created in a merger in 2013.
UPDATE: 2021 LIST OF TOP 10 RICHEST LATIN AMERICANS
3 – Mexican Ricardo Salinas Pliego has a net worth of $11.7 billion. He runs the number two Mexican TV broadcaster, TV Azteca, and retailer Grupo Elektra. His Grupo Elektra targets lower middle class consumers who borrow money from its banking arm, Banco Azteca, to buy items at Elektra stores.
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4 – Germán Larrea Mota Velasco, $11 billion, owns the majority of Mexico’s largest copper mining company, Grupo México, which also has operations in Peru and the U.S. Under his leadership as president and CEO, Grupo México expanded into the infrastructure and rail transportation sectors.
5- Chilean Iris Fontbona has a net worth of $10.8 billion. She’s the widow of Andrónico Luksic, who built a fortune in mining and beverages before dying of cancer in 2005. He left his businesses to Fontbona and their three sons: Jean-Paul, Andronico and Guillermo Luksic (who died in 2013).
6 – Brazilian Jorge Paulo Lemann has a net worth of $10.4 billion. He started in investment banking and later became a controlling shareholder of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewery, and 3G Capital, a private-equity fund, which also controls Burger King, Kraft Foods and Heinz.
7 – Colombian Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo has a net worth of $9 billion. He amassed a fortune in the construction industry and invested it in banks. His Grupo Aval now controls one third of all banks in Colombia.
8 – Brazilian Eduardo Saverin has a net worth of $8.4 billion. He cofounded Facebook with Harvard classmate Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. Now a venture capitalist, he still derives most of his wealth from his 2% stake in Facebook.
9 – Marcel Hermann Telles has a new worth of $6.5 billion. The Brazilian is also one of the controlling shareholders of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewery, of which he owns a minority stake, and private-equity fund 3G Capital.
10 – Mexican Alberto Bailleres has a net worth of $6.4 billion. He chairs Industrias Penoles, Mexico’s second largest mining company. He also controls the department store chain Palacio de Hierro, insurance company Grupo Nacional Provincial and pension fund manager Grupo Profuturo.
Off the top 10 but fulfilling the list of global Top 400 billionaires there are María Asunción Aramburuzabala has a net worth of $5.6 billion. She’s México‘s best known businesswoman, serving on the board of beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev. With her mother and sister, she inherited a stake in beer giant Grupo Modelo from her father; Peruvian Carlos Rodriguez-Pastor, with a net worth of $3.9 billion. He took over leadership of Banco Internacional del Peru when his father died and has invested its profits in other businesses. Rodriguez-Pastor owns the majority of the publicly traded company Intercorp Financial Services, along with his siblings George Pastor and Anne Marie See.
And there’s Argentinian Alejandro Bulgheroni with a net worth of $2.7 billion. He and his late brother Carlos (d. Sept. 2016) took over Argentine energy company Bridas Corp., founded by their father, in 1985. Bridas, now called BS Energy Investments, was created in 1948 to provide parts for the national oil company’s pipeline network.
