The fortune accumulated by ‘The 100 most important businessmen in Mexico’ amounts to 254.4 billion dollars, and although the figure is equal to the GDP of countries such as Portugal, New Zealand or Peru, it is 9.2% below its maximum level reached in 2018 , according to a calculation made by Intelligence Expansión.
However, after falling to its lowest level in 2020, due to the economic crisis caused by the covid-19 pandemic and the mistrust it caused in the business world, it has been recovering. And today, the fortune accumulated by “The 100 most important businessmen in Mexico” is 66.6% above its worst level.
Its recovery has been driven by the better performance and capitalization of the Mexican stock market, whose value increased 40% compared to 2020, given better expectations from economic agents after the pandemic.
strong concentration
Not all entrepreneurs have suffered the same fate, just as Mexican households suffer from a concentration of wealth, among millionaires as well: Ten of the 100 most important entrepreneurs in the country concentrate 57% of the total wealth hoarded by said group, Carlos Slim Helú stands out among them, having 27% of the total -equivalent to 68.8 billion dollars- and Germán Larrea with 9% -21.9 billion dollars-.
However, despite being the richest man in Mexico, Slim’s wealth stopped growing for several years. His fortune is 18.9% below its maximum, which was 84.8 billion dollars in November 2014. Gone are the days when Slim was the richest man in the world, the last time was in December 2015, after that Bill Gates took the crown from him.
Currently, the businessman occupies the 12th position among the richest men in the world, according to Bloomberg. So far this year, his wealth was close to reaching its maximum level, standing at 82 billion dollars at the end of May, remaining only 3.3% below that historic level.
In contrast, Germán Larrea’s fortune has grown exponentially, becoming the second richest man in the country and ranking 54th in the world according to Bloomberg. In the last year, his wealth went from 6.9 to 21.9 billion dollars, but in April it reached 34.4 billion dollars, its all-time high.
Cumulative sales by his company Grupo México (first place worldwide in copper reserves) during 2021 reached 14,777 million dollars, 35.5% higher than those obtained in 2020, thanks to the increase in the price of industrial metals, especially copper . This boosted the confidence of investors who bet on its shares and increased its value.
In addition to Slim and Larrea, Mexico has two other businessmen among the 500 richest men in the world: Ricardo Salinas and Juan Beckmann, according to Bloomberg. And while the fortune of the 100 richest people in Mexico is equivalent to the GDP of some countries, it falls short compared to that of other characters.
If the fortune of Mexican businessmen is compared with the wealth of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, the two richest men in the world, according to Bloomberg, the 100 Mexican businessmen would only exceed Musk by 48.4 billion dollars and it would not be enough to complete the wealth of the American couple, equivalent to 342 billion dollars.
