Forbes on Monday released its 29th annual guide to the world's wealthiest entrepreneurs. To no one's surprise, Microsoft founder Bill Gates topped the list with $79.2 billion, a $3.2 billion increase from his 2014 earnings.
It was a banner year for billionaires. Nearly 200 women made the list - up from 172- and recipients under the age of 40 reached a record 46 members. Mark Zuckerberg may be the leader among the youths but only 24-year-old Evan Spiegel, co-founder of photo-messaging app Snapchat, can claim to be the youngest and wealthiest.
Had Forbes divided their ranking by ethnicity, Latinos would take up about 55 of the first 1,000 positions, 16 of which would be Mexican. Five rank among the first 100, led by Mexican phone company magnate Carlos Slim Helú. From miner to bankers to beer aficionados, Latin billionaires have left their indelible mark on the world.
Let's take look at the most prominent billionaires coming out of Latin America.
#2 Carlos Slim Helú (Mexico) - $77.1B
There were 114 billionaires worth up to $440 billion on Forbes' list last year. Slim accounted for 16 percent of that total.
Slim, named the richest man in the world from 2010-13, saw his net worth increase by $5.1 billion thanks to a $5.6 billion investment in Latin wireless provider América Móvil. Even without the investment, the "Warren Buffett of Mexico's" Telmex would still monopolize the country's phone service industry.
To put it in perspective, his fortune equals 6.1 percent of Mexico's gross domestic production.
#4 Amancio Ortega (Spain) - $64.5B
Ortega is a self-made entrepreneur who not only survived the global financial crisis six years ago, he thrived in it.
The world's richest retailer added $45 billion to his net worth since 2009 behind his Zara luxury clothing line and Spanish stock market share in Inditex. His Inditex dividends helped Ortega reinvest the money in prime real estate locations in Barcelona, Madrid, London, and New York, among other notable cities.
#26 Jorge Paulo Lemann (Brazil) - $25B
Some of the world's richest individuals found their fortunes in alcoholic beverages. Twelve of this year's billionaires found success in breweries. Lemann was Latina America's most profitable, being named Brazil's richest business man.
In the 1970's, the Swiss-Brazilian banker and his partners formed AmBev, later named InBev; a company which would eventually control 65 percent of the Brazilian beer market. Lemann would earn his "king" of beers status after acquiring American brewer Anheuser-Busch for $46 billion in 2008.
Consumers can thank Lemann from keeping Burger King from going under. His private equity firm 3G Capital purchased the struggling franchise and took it public.
#77 Germán Larrea Mota Velasco (Mexico) - $13.9B
While billionaires like Slim relish the spotlight, Larrea's does everything he can to avoid it.
Larrea's family owns just over half of Grupo México, the country's largest mining and infrastructure company, yet little is known about him biographically. Some say he's 63-years-old, others 73. He owns 75 percent of United States-based Copper Corp. but they, nor his other companies, say very much about him as a person.
His aversion to publicity may have to do with disputes about business practices. In October 2012, a Delaware judge ordered Grupo México to return $1.3 billion to South Copper for forcing a separate company to overpay Minera México. There were also labor concerns in the former Cananea mines, located near the U.S. border.
Larrea ranked #67 on Forbes' list last year.
#85 Luis Carlos Sarmiento (Colombia) - $13.4B
Sarmiento's Grup Aval owns one-third of all banking in Colombia.
As a 26-year-old, Sarmiento founded the Organization Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo which, in 1975, became the largest construction and housing company in Bogota. Even Old age hasn't stopped the company's CEO from working. Sarmiento reportedly works 60 hours a week, though most acting CEO duties go to his son.
Other notable Latino billionaires:
#110 Carlos Alberto Sicupira (Brazil) - $ 11.3B
#121 Alberto Bailléres González (Mexico) - $10.4B
#165 João Roberto Marinho (Brazil) - $8.2B
#165 José Roberto Marinho (Brazil) - $8.2B
#165 Roberto Irineu Marinho (Brazil) - $8.2B
#168 Ricardo Salinas Pliego (Mexico) - $8B
#201 Eva Gonda de Rivera (Mexico) - $6.7B
#225 Sandra Ortega Mera (Spain) - $6.3B
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