Gates vs Slim

Microsoft and América Móvil.

The differences

Forbes puts Carlos Slim Helú about $2.5B ahead of Bill Gates.Forbes figures from 17 Oct 2026 and 15 Oct 2026.
Both started the company their money comes from.
Carlos Slim Helú is about 15 years older than Bill Gates.
Bill Gates has signed the Giving Pledge; Carlos Slim Helú has not.
Bill Gates is from United States; Carlos Slim Helú is from Mexico.

Put someone else on either side

Gates

Slim

Net worth, Forbes: $118BForbes, 15 Oct 2026; $120BForbes, 17 Oct 2026
Net worth, Bloomberg: $119BBloomberg, 16 Oct 2026; $118BBloomberg, 10 Oct 2026
Forbes rank: No. 17Real-Time list, 15 Oct 2026; No. 15Real-Time list, 20 Sep 2026
Billionaire since: 1987Forbes first listed him as a billionaire in 1987; 1991First year on a Forbes billionaires list: Forbes says he 'first appeared on Forbes' Billionaires list in 1991 at $1.7 billion', mainly on his Grupo Carso stake

How it started: Co-founded itCo-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975; Founded itBegan building Grupo Carso in 1965 at 25; Inmobiliaria Carso was incorporated in January 1966. He bought into Telmex at its 1990 privatisation; América Móvil was spun off from Telmex in 2000
Main source: Cascade Investment, built from Microsoft stock sales and dividendsBloomberg: 'The majority of Bill Gates' fortune is derived from Cascade Investment'; Stakes in América Móvil, Grupo Carso and Grupo Financiero InbursaBloomberg: his most valuable asset is a majority shareholding in America Movil, followed by Grupo Carso and Inbursa
Companies: MicrosoftMicrosoft: Co-founder; technology advisor to the CEO; América Móvil, Grupo CarsoAmérica Móvil: Honorary and life chairman; Grupo Carso: Honorary lifetime chairman
Biggest stake: Microsoft1% owned; Grupo Carso76% owned

Born: 28 Oct 1955Seattle, Washington, United States; 28 Jan 1940Mexico City, Mexico
Country: United StatesLives in Medina, Washington, United States; MexicoLives in Mexico City, Mexico
Education: Left university without a degreeHarvard University, left without a degree (honorary degree in 2007); Bachelor's degreeCivil engineering degree, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), 1961
Parents: Father William H. Gates Sr. was an attorney and civic leader; mother Mary Gates was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent and chair of United Way International; Father Julián Slim Haddad, a Lebanese immigrant, owned the dry-goods store La Estrella de Oriente and property in central Mexico City; mother Linda Helú

Giving Pledge: Signed in 2010Co-founded the Giving Pledge in 2010 with Melinda French Gates and Warren Buffett; Not a signer
Foundation: Gates FoundationFormerly the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; renamed in 2025. He is trustee of the Gates Foundation Trust; Fundación Carlos SlimFounded 1986; he also chairs Fundación Telmex
Lifetime giving: $63.9BGates Foundation, 31 Dec 2025. Joint total given by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates to the foundation from inception through 2025; no Gates-only figure is published; $4.2BForbes, 26 Mar 2019. Dated Forbes estimate: donations to the Carlos Slim Foundation since 2006, per his spokesman

Role now: Founder, no executive roleChair of the Gates Foundation; technology advisor to Microsoft's CEO; Chair of the boardHonorary lifetime chairman of Grupo Carso; chairman of IDEAL and of his foundations
Successor: Steve Ballmer succeeded him as Microsoft CEO in 2000; Satya Nadella is now chairman and CEONo Gates family member is named in a Microsoft executive role in the cited sources; His sons have taken over: Carlos Slim Domit chairs América Móvil and Grupo Carso; Patrick Slim Domit is co-chairman of América Móvil and was CEO of Grupo Carso; Marco Antonio Slim Domit is a Grupo Carso director
Public office: None found; Member, UN high-level advisory group on energy and climate change; Co-leader, Mexico City Historic Centre citizens' advisory councilYear not stated; 2001-present
Legal record: 2004: US District Court for D.C. (DOJ case at the FTC's request)A consent final judgment in a case over a Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger notification violation ordered him to pay $800,000 in civil penalties, without trial or adjudication of facts or law.; 2001: Texas state district court (Dallas); reversed by the Texas Court of Appeals in 2004After a jury verdict for COC Services in a dispute over a CompUSA franchise deal, the trial judge ordered him personally to pay $85.5 million; in 2004 the Court of Appeals reversed the judgment against him and his companies and ruled that COC take nothing from them.