The 10 Richest People In Latin America 2025

Forbes

01-04-2025

There are a record-breaking 3,028 billionaires around the world, but only 95 hail from Latin America, down from 110 a year ago. This group of entrepreneurs, investors and heirs are worth a combined $484.3 billion, $46 billion less than in 2024.
Brazil, which has the highest number of billionaires in the region, contributed largely to the decline, as the country faces economic headwinds and wrestles to combat inflation. Of the region's 18 drop-offs, 15 were from Brazil, most notably including 'Soybean King' Blairo Maggi, controlling shareholder of soybean producer Amaggi, and João Alves de Queiroz Filho, founder of Hypera Pharma. The country did manage to add two new faces this year, however, in Anheuser-Busch InBev heir Max Van Hoegaerden Herrmann Telles (estimated net worth: $5.8 billion) and renewable energies entrepreneur Mário Araripe ($3 billion).
While Brazil lost the most billionaires in Latin America over the past year, Mexican billionaires lost the most money. A weakened peso—down 20% against the U.S. dollar—and a barrage of tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump have helped push the combined wealth of Mexico's richest people down by $36.9 billion, to an aggregate $167.1 billion. No one in the region lost more than Carlos Slim Helú ($82.5 billion), who shed $19.5 billion of his net worth, as shares of his telecommunications company América Móvil and his conglomerate Grupo Carso fell by 20% and 15%, respectively, amid exchange rate fluctuations; he dropped from No. 14 to No. 19 worldwide.
Ricardo Salinas Pliego ($4.9 billion), who ranked last year as the seventh richest individual in the region and the third richest in Mexico, lost $8.5 billion as shares of his conglomerate Grupo Elektra plummeted 70% amid trading suspensions stemming from fraud allegations and debt disputes between Salinas' companies and the Mexican government. To mitigate the drop in value, Grupo Elektra's board decided to take the company private in late 2024; the transition is expected to be completed by May. Meanwhile, siblings Juan Domingo ($1.9 billion) and Karen Beckmann Legorreta ($1.3 billion), lost $2.7 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively, as shares of Becle, the company behind the Jose Cuervo tequila brand, fell to a record low on March 4th, when tariffs for imports from Mexico, Canada and China went into effect. They were suspended two days later, but the stock has yet to rebound.
Outside of Mexico and Brazil, things weren't as grim. Strong performance from financial institutions brought an Argentinian banker (Delfín Jorge Ezequiel Carballo, $1.2 billion) and a Chilean banker (Luis Enrique Yarur Rey, $1.3 billion) back into the ranking, and upped the fortune of Venezuela's richest person, Juan Carlos Escotet ($7.4 billion), by 68%. Another returnee is Eduardo Hochschild ($2.4 billion), chairman of the Peru-based family business Hochschild Group. The only Peruvian citizen on the list, he returns after an uptick in the group's mining company stock price thanks to a return to profitability in 2024 and some hefty dividend payouts.
Two notable Latin American billionaires died this year. Gregorio Pérez Companc, who transformed Grupo Perez Companc into one of Argentina's largest conglomerates, died in June 2024. The tycoon had planned his succession in 2009 when he gave six of his children equal shares in the conglomerate's holding company. This year, three of the siblings bought out the rest. Luis, Rosario and Pilar Perez Companc are now the majority owners but none were individual billionaires when we finalized the list. And Chilean Horst Paulmann passed away in March. Paulmann founded retail giant Cencosud from a single supermarket in central Chile in 1963. When he died, the company had a presence in five countries in Latin America and brought in $17.5 billion in annual revenue.
In 2022, he and his five siblings inherited their late father's stake in Grupo BAL, a Mexican conglomerate that spans mining, retail and financial services. In June, Carlos Slim Helú's Grupo Carso completed the acquisition of PetroBal Upstream, the group's oil arm, for some $530 million.
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Now Mexico's third-richest person, Aramburuzabala inherited her father's stake in beer producer Grupo Modelo following his 1995 death from lung cancer. Her fortune includes her sister's and mom's shares in Tresalia Capital, the family's investment vehicle, which has backed companies like Tory Burch and Casper Sleep. Aramburuzabala's net worth is up by $2.7 billion this year after Forbes dug into the value of Tresalia's real estate portfolio.
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In August, Velez sold 31 million shares of Nu Holdings, worth $404 million. The cofounder and CEO, who still owns 20% of the company's stock, has big plans for Latin America's largest fintech company. In January, he discussed plans to expand Nubank's operations beyond the region, including a potential entry into the United States.
The Colombian banker, who ties Velez for the title of the country's richest person, built his fortune through a series of bold banking acquisitions and successful exits across Latin America. His latest deals: London-based Metro Bank, of which he became majority shareholder in 2023 and Colombian food processing conglomerate Grupo Nutresa. Gilinski, who had been increasing his stake in Grupo Nutresa since 2021, bought an additional 12% last year alongside his partner, Abu Dhabi-based International Holding Company.
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Lemann cofounded private equity firm 3G Capital with fellow billionaires Carlos 'Beto' Sicupira and Marcel Herrmann Telles in 2004, making highly lucrative and long-hold investments into food and beverage companies like Anheuser-Busch, H.J. Heinz & Company and Burger King. In recent years, the firm has ventured into other industries, including a 75% stake in Dutch window blinds maker Hunter Douglas.
The inheritance saga plaguing the widow and children of Joseph Safra, once the richest banker in the world, has come to an end. "I am happy to put that matter behind. After clarifications, I understood that there were no wrongdoings, and that Mr. Safra's estate was properly disposed in accordance to his wishes,' son Alberto said in a joint statement with the family released in July. Alberto had previously sued his mother and siblings, claiming his stake in Safra National Bank of New York had been diluted after his father's passing.
The widow of Andrónico Luksic (d. 2005) and his children are reportedly seeking nearly $230 million from Banco Santander and PwC related to losses from Banco Popular's near-bankruptcy in 2017. Through Aeris Invest, the family had put around $125 million into Banco Popular shortly before Santander acquired it for just one euro after it was declared failing by the European Central Bank.
Larrea built his fortune by expanding Grupo Mexico into a conglomerate with interests in transportation and infrastructure. The mining mogul, who took over as president and CEO in 1994, is one of only three Mexicans whose fortunes are up this year as the conglomerate's revenue rose by nearly 13%, to $16.2 billion. Grupo Mexico's mining division reported record revenues thanks to higher copper production and strong market conditions.
Bryan van der Beek for Forbes
The Facebook cofounder continues to reap the benefits of his Meta stake. Saverin's wealth has increased by $6.5 billion as Meta's stock continues to surge. Saverin, who resides in Singapore, topped Forbes' Singapore's 50 Richest list in September. Three months later, he and his wife donated $15 million to the Singapore American School.
Martin Schoeller for Forbes
Although he's still among the world's top 20 richest people, Slim's drop to No. 19 overall marks the lowest he's ranked since 2003. While shares of his biggest companies, América Móvil and Grupo Carso, were down over the past year, the telecommunications magnate has poured $1 billion into U.S. oil companies Talos Energy and PBF Energy.