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August 08, 2021

Carlos Slim (presumably) can't stop losing billions

Sunday night at Fenway Park, as the Boston Red Sox wrestled first place in the AL East from the New York Yankees, sat Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man.

296223_empty_pocket_1Plopped in Sox owner John Henry’s private box in a white golf shirt, he looked every bit like a man worth nearly $25 billion more than Warren Buffett should: tanned, relaxed, enjoying the finer, but still modest, points of American culture.

Of course, for Slim, with such a vast fortune – estimated at $74 billion earlier this year by Forbes – comes wild fluctuations in worth.

Like, losing $8 billion, and likely more, in the span of about a week.

Yes, if you haven’t heard by now, Slim, the Mexican telecom giant, had a rough go last week, shedding about $8 billion in personal net worth in a window of just four days.

According to Bloomberg News, the billionaire’s portfolio had dipped by about 11 per cent over the period July 29-August 4, dropping his net worth to the $63 billion range.

That figure was ahead of Friday, but more importantly, ahead of Monday, a veritable blood bath in the stock market.

Word hasn’t come down yet just what Slim may have lost yesterday, when the S&P 500 freefell a whopping six per cent in value after Standard & Poor officially told the world the U.S. can’t be trusted to pay its damn bills.

But let’s have a little fun with the stock chart of America Movil SAB, the biggest wireless carrier in the Americas and Slim’s largest asset, shall we?

By Bloomberg’s calculations, Slim’s fortune stood at $63 billion as of Friday morning. If we extrapolate all of Slim’s wealth in America Movil stock (I know, it’s not all tied up there, but still), perhaps we can gauge a bit of what he may have lost in the days since.

As of Thursday’s close, American Movil sold for about $1.29 per share. As of Monday’s close, that same price had shot down to $1.09, or a dip of about 16 per cent.

What’s a 16 per cent hack out of $63 billion? A little over $10 billion, bringing Slim’s hypothetical fortune down to a puny $52.92 billion.

Of course, these figures are worthless (and mostly inaccurate, we’d imagine) but it’s a remarkable look at how the stakes are different for the super rich. The ebbs are huge, yes, but the losses are insufferable.

By Jason Buckland, MSN Money

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Gordon PowersGordon Powers

A long-time fund company executive, Gordon Powers now heads up the Affinity Group, a financial services consulting firm. Gordon was a personal finance columnist for the Globe & Mail for many years, has taught retirement planning...

Jason BucklandJason Buckland

The modern-day MC Hammer of money, Jason can often be seen spending cash that isn’t his with the efficiency of a Wilt Chamberlain first date. After cutting his teeth as a reporter for the Toronto Sun, he joined the MSN Money team with...