How Latin America's Richest Billionaires Made Their Money

Forbes

Much is up in the air in Latin America: Mexico may see its first-ever female president, the Argentine peso is collapsing amid the country’s highest inflation in three decades and Brazil’s new president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva continues to wrestle with a deeply polarized political environment. But one thing is certain: billionaires in the region are booming, both getting richer on average and adding new members to their ranks.  The average Latin American billionaire’s net worth rose by 23% on this year’s World’s Billionaires list, which also welcomed 21 new faces from the region, compared to just 1 last year. In all, Forbes found 110 members in Latin America, worth a combined $530 billion, up from $413 billion in 2023.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/gigizamora/2024/04/04/the-10-richest-people-in-latin-america-2024/?sh=2717cbe67c84  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00A lot is going on in Latin America.

00:03Mexico may see its first ever female president.

00:07The Argentine peso is collapsing amid the country's highest inflation in three decades.

00:12And Brazil's new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, continues to wrestle with a deeply

00:18polarized political environment.

00:20But one thing is certain, billionaires in the region are increasing their wealth and

00:25new fortunes keep cropping up.

00:28The average Latin American billionaire's net worth rose by 23% this year, and the list

00:33welcomed 21 new faces from the region, up from one last year.

00:39In total, 63 of Latin America's richest saw their fortunes increase, and the region counted

00:4521 new billionaires and 10 returnees.

00:49Some of the region's wealthiest include telecom magnate Carlos Slim, Meta's Eduardo Saverin,

00:56and the co-founder of Latin America's largest unicorn, David Velez.

01:01Here are the five richest billionaires in Latin America.

01:06Number 5.

01:07Vicky Safra and family.

01:11Vicky Safra and her children inherited her husband Joseph Safra's fortune after he passed

01:16away in 2020.

01:18He was the world's richest banker at the time.

01:21Three years later, an inheritance lawsuit filed in the New York State Supreme Court

01:25by her son Alberto Safra claimed that his mother and brothers had diluted his stake

01:30in Safra National Bank.

01:32The case was dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction in March 2024.

01:37Vicky Safra was born in Greece and retains both Greek and Brazilian citizenship.

01:43She resides mostly in Switzerland.

01:47Number 4.

01:48Iris Fontmona and family.

01:51The widow of Androniko Luksic and her children inherited a multi-billion dollar mining business

01:57along with a diversified Chilean conglomerate.

02:01Her stepson, Androniko Luksic-Craig, who led Kinyenico as chairman since 2013, stepped

02:07down in December.

02:09Meanwhile, his brother Jean-Paul chairs the board of the family's mining business, Entofagatza,

02:15which brought in $6.3 billion in revenue in 2023.

02:21Number 3.

02:23Germán Larrea Moda Velasco and family.

02:27Germán Larrea, press-shy and elusive, built his fortune by expanding Grupo Mexico after

02:33taking over as president and CEO in 1994.

02:38The conglomerate owns the country's largest mining company, producing nearly one million

02:42tons of copper a year.

02:45Larrea was reportedly in talks to acquire Banamex, Citigroup's Mexican banking unit,

02:50for $7 billion.

02:52In May, the deal was scrapped as Citi announced it would pursue an IPO for that arm instead.

02:59Number 2.

03:00Eduardo Saverin.

03:03The Facebook co-founder's wealth has jumped by $17.8 billion since last year, making him

03:09Brazil's richest citizen in 2024.

03:13Saverin was born in Sao Paulo but grew up in Miami.

03:18Shares of Meta, which make up the bulk of Saverin's fortune, have tripled since last

03:22year, and his stake, estimated at less than 5%, is now worth $27 billion.

03:31In 2015, Saverin, a resident of Singapore, founded venture capital firm B-Capital, which

03:37has more than $5 billion in assets under management.

03:41And at number 1, Carlos Slim Helu and family.

03:47Slim, who ranked as the richest person in the world from 2010 to 2013, was worth $74

03:53billion at his peak in 2011.

03:57Though there are now 13 others ahead of him, he's still wealthier than he's ever been,

04:01thanks largely to a 60% jump in shares of his industrial conglomerate Grupo Carso, which

04:07reached deals of over $655 million to boost its investments in the energy sector.

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