1. Carlos Slim Helu

Mexican mogul Carlos Slim Helu tops Forbes' list of the richest people in the world for the third year in a row. The 72-year-old billionaire is the son of a Lebanese immigrant, a father of six and the chairman of Telemex, which controls 80 percent of Mexico's landline telephone market. Slim's net worth of $69 billion outranks the second wealthiest on the list by $8 billion, despite being down $5 billion from a year ago.

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