Slim overtakes Buffet as 2nd richest

Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim has quietly overtaken investor Warren Buffett as the world's second-richest man and is close to wresting the top spot from Bill Gates, Forbes magazine reported Wednesday. Yet he can't commit to sponsoring Mario Dominguez for a full year with his Telmex company?

In the two months since Forbes calculated its 2007 wealth rankings, the 67-year-old Slim's fortune rose $4 billion to $53.1 billion, while Buffett's holdings slipped to $52.4 billion as of March 29.

In an article on its website, Forbes attributed part of Slim's "amazing run" to a 15% increase in the stock price of Carso Global Telecom, part of a larger rally in Mexican stocks. Slim's America Movil cellphone company also soared on news of a possible acquisition of Telecom Italia.