Between Carlos Slim, Ricardo Salinas, and Eduardo Saverin: where are LatAm’s wealthiest people?
The list updated daily by Bloomberg with the names of the top 500 billionaires in the world currently has 18 Latin Americans among its members.
With one curiosity: four of them are siblings.
Among the 18 fortunes listed, 17 belong to men, and only one is in the hands of a woman.
WHAT ARE THE ORIGINS OF THE OWNERS OF THE PROMINENT FORTUNES IN LATIN AMERICA?
- Ten are fortunes belonging to Brazilians.
- Four of the fortunes belong to Mexicans.
- Two are Colombian.
- One of the billionaires is Argentine.
- One of the fortunes belongs to a Chilean tycoon and her family.
THESE ARE THE MAIN BILLIONAIRES IN LATIN AMERICA.
Below is the list of the 18 most significant Latin American fortunes that appear in the Bloomberg ranking:
From back to front, the region’s #18 fortune is held by Brazilian film director Walther Moreira Salles Jr. (66 years old), son of the late ambassador and banker Walter Moreira Salles, and co-owner of the Brazilian bank Unibanco.
His wealth is the 498th in the world.
Salles has about US$ 5.2 billion, and his wealth has grown by 2.3% in 2023.
In 17th place in fortunes is Brazilian João Moreira Salles (60 years old), documentary filmmaker and brother of Walther Salles, Fernando Roberto Moreira Salles, and Pedro Salles, who appear later in this list.
João Moreira Salles has a fortune of US$5.2 billion and appears in 497th place in the Bloomberg world ranking of billionaires.
His wealth also grew 2.3% in 2023.
The 16th fortune in Latin America belongs to Argentine businessman Marcos Galperín (51 years old), founder of the region’s e-commerce giant: Mercado Libre.
Galperín’s fortune is around US$5.4 billion (up 29.4% in 2023).
He appears 461st among the wealthiest people on the planet.
The list of billionaires shows, once again, a Moreira Salles: in this case, it is Fernando (76 years old), number 15 in Latin America and 449 in the world ranking.
Like the rest of the family, he is a shareholder of Unibanco Itaú.
The Brazilian businessman has a wealth of US$5.5 billion to his credit, and his net worth grew 3.3% in these two months of 2023.
In 14th place in Latin America comes Luis Sarmiento (439 in the world ranking), 90 years old, president and founder of Grupo Aval, the most extensive banking group in Colombia.
He also owns two insurance providers under the Alfa brand, the newspaper El Tiempo and the real estate developer Construcciones Planificadas.
Sarmiento has US$5.6 billion. His holdings so far in 2023 increased by 0.3%.
At 63 years old, Pedro Moreira Salles, from the aforementioned dynasty, is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Itaú Unibanco.
His fortune is number 437 in the world.
Pedro Moreira Salles and his brothers share a majority stake in CBMM, the miner that controls most of the world’s niobium production.
The Araxá, Brazil-based company supplies niobium, used to strengthen steel, to some 50 countries.
It is also co-chairman of Itaú Unibanco, Latin America’s largest financial institution,” describes Bloomberg.
Pedro Moreira Salles has US$ 5.6 billion,, and his net worth grew 2.2% in 2023.
The 12th largest fortune in Latin America is held by Brazilian André Esteves (54 years old), president and controlling shareholder of Banco BTG Pactual, the most significant investment bank in the region.
Esteves also has a stake in Estapar, a publicly traded parking lot operator based in Brazil. The São Paulo-based institution participates in more than 90% of the financial transactions carried out in Brazil.
Esteves has US$ 5.7 billion, making him the 422nd largest fortune globally.
His wealth has declined by 7% in 2023.
Brazilian Jorge Moll (77 years old) has the 11th largest fortune in Latin America (353 worldwide).
Moll is the founder and principal shareholder of Rede D’Or São Luiz, Brazil’s largest healthcare network.
The Rio de Janeiro-based company began in 1977 as a diagnostic imaging laboratory before incorporating hospitals and medical clinics.
It went public in 2020 and had more than 11,000 beds in its network.
Moll and family’s net worth is estimated at US$6.7 billion, although it retracted 3.8% in these two months of 2023.
The tenth wealth in the region is in the hands of Mexican Juan Beckmann Vidal (275th in the world) and his family.
Beckmann Vidal, 83, is chairman of Becle, a publicly traded holding company that controls Jose Cuervo, the world’s largest tequila maker. His family is the largest shareholder in the Mexico City-based company, which reported net sales of US$2 billion in 2021.
They also own Proximo Spirits, a Mexican alcohol distributor.
Beckmann Vidal and family have about US$8 billion; in 2023, their fortune carries a 5.4% growth.
Brazilian Carlos Sicupira (74 years old) holds the ninth fortune in Latin America and the 263rd in the world.
With his fellow countrymen Marcel Telles and Jorge Paulo Lemann, Scicupira is a shareholder of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, and owns stakes in Kraft Heinz and Restaurant Brands International, the company behind Burger King.
The trio also controls the retailer Lojas Americanas and the developer São Carlos.
It has US$8.2 billion, but its equity fell 1% in this part of 2023.
The 8th Latin American billionaire is also Brazilian Eduardo Saverin (40 years old), co-founder of Meta Platforms (META), the company behind Facebook.
Although born in Brazil, he grew up in Miami, Florida, with a Romanian father who was in exports and real estate.
He attended the Gulliver Institute in Miami, then entered Harvard University, where he was a member of the Phoenix S.K. Club. He also chaired the Harvard Investment Association.
In 2006, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics.
He currently holds a 2% stake in the company.
Bloomberg estimates his fortune at US$9.5 billion (210 globally), which grew 39.7% in 2023.
Brazilian Marcel Telles, 72, has the seventh largest net worth in the region and 203rd in the world.
As mentioned above, he is a partner of Jorge Paulo Lemann and Scicupira.
Currently, he has US$ 9.7 billion, implying a net worth loss of 0.8% in these first two months of the year.
Mexican businessman Ricardo Salinas (67 years old) has Latin America’s fifth-highest net worth (171 globally).
Salinas is chairman of Grupo Salinas and Grupo Elektra, a financial services conglomerate with revenues of Mex$146 billion in 2021.
The Mexico City-based retail and lending group owns Banco Azteca. The billionaire also owns shares in broadcaster TV Azteca.
Ricardo Salinas has a fortune estimated at US$11.3 billion, although his net worth has decreased by 2.6% in 2023.
Colombian Alejandro Santo Domingo (45 years old) and his family hold the fifth fortune in the region. Santo Domingo’s wealth is number 163 globally.
As described by Bloomberg, Alejandro Santo Domingo oversees Colombia’s wealthiest family fortune through the New York-based investment firm Quadrant Capital.
The family owns stakes in global brewer AB InBev of Belgium, Corpbanca of Chile, and Inmobiliaria Colonial of Spain.
They also control Caracol Televisión and other businesses.
Alejandro Santo Domingo has US$11.6 billion; in the first months of 2023, his fortune grew by 2%.
The fourth wealthiest person in Latin America is 83-year-old Brazilian Jorge Paulo Lemann. In turn, his wealth is ranked 73rd in the world.
As mentioned, he is a partner of Marcel Telles and Carlos Sicupira.
He has around US$21.2 billion, although his fortune retracted by 0.2% in 2023.
The only woman on the list of wealthiest people in Latin America, according to Bloomberg, is Iris Fontbona (81 years old), together with her family.
Fontbona has the 3rd largest fortune in the region and 57th worldwide.
Fontbona is the matriarch of Chile’s wealthiest family (Luksic), which controls Antofagasta, a Santiago-based mining company and one of the world’s largest copper producers.
Through Quinenco, which is publicly traded, they control Banco de Chile, a copper cable and products manufacturer (Invexans), a brewery (CCU), and a shipping company (CSAV).
Its equity stood at US$ 26.7 billion and increased by 1.1% in 2023.
Mexican Germán Larrea (81 years old) is the second richest man in Latin America.
The fortune he holds with his family is the 46th in the world.
Larrea is the president of Grupo Mexico, a publicly traded conglomerate.
The company’s mining division operates in the US, Mexico, Peru, and Spain and reported revenues of US$14.8 billion in 2021.
The billionaire also controls Grupo Cinemex, a Mexican movie theater chain.
His net worth is estimated at US$27.3 billion and will grow 20.7% in 2023.
Mexican businessman Carlos Slim (age 83) has the most considerable fortune in Latin America and the 9th largest internationally.
Slim controls América Móvil, Latin America’s largest cell phone operator.
The company, headquartered in Mexico City, had revenues of US$42.1 billion in 2021.
Slim also has stakes in the New York Times and commercial banks.
Through his family’s investment vehicle, Grupo Carso, he has shares in the Mexican construction industry.
His net worth reached US$82.2 billion and grew 11.4% in the year.
With information from Bloomberg
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