“In fiction, billionaires are larger than life characters, lighting cigars with burning $100 notes and bathing in solid gold bathtubs. But fact is rarely as colourful as fiction, and the Mexican man who last week replaced the nerdy, smaller than life Microsoft founder Bill Gates as the wealthiest man in the world sadly does not drink margaritas made with gold leaf or fire platinum pistols in the air to celebrate a good day at the market. Telecoms mogul Carlos Slim, with an estimated wealth of $53.5 billion, crunches numbers in a tattered notebook and wears cheap ties from his own department stores. Until recently few people outside Mexico had heard of the self-made billionaire who likes to boast that he doesn’t own a computer.” (03/13/10)