HE snubs private jets and wears a plastic watch, but this tycoon has knocked Bill Gates off the world’s richest man spot.

Mexican mobile phone boss Carlos Slim’s estimated £33.6billion fortune dislodged Gates and his £29.3billion from the top position.

And if that’s not enough to miff the Microsoft chief, the new king of wealth claims he doesn’t even like computers and never uses his laptop.

He once said: “I’m a paper man, not electronic.”

Slim, 67, owns mobiles giant America Movil, Inbursa financial group and the Grupo Carso that runs a string of shops and restaurants.

He took the top rich man spot after a huge surge in America Movil’s share price, according to online financial publication Sentido Comun.

Slim, the son of Lebanese immigrants, started his journey to the rich list by dabbling in property.

He soon made enough cash to invest in the stock market. During the Latin American economic crisis of the early 80s, the engineering graduate snapped up several struggling companies at low prices before transforming their fortunes.

He inherited millions from his dad, who opened a successful shop near their Mexico City home called Star of the Orient.

The dad-of-three’s wife Soumaya died of kidney disease in 1999.

Slim recently linked up with Gates and Canadian mining figure Frank Giustra to launch an anti-poverty campaign in Latin America.

He once proclaimed: “Wealth is like an orchard. You have to share the fruit, not the trees.” The people of Mexico could certainly do with some of that fruit being shared around.

A tiny elite band of tycoons hold most of the country’s wealth and around half the population live on less than £2.50 a day.

Slim and his family are believed to command a fortune equivalent to eight per cent of Mexico’s gross domestic product.

In an interview this year he said he was not in the habit of calculating his wealth on a regular basis.

Forbes magazine had Slim second on its rich list in April, but Sentido Comun insisted he is now top man.

Neither the multi-millionaire nor Forbes were available for comment last night.

THE TOP 10

1 Carlos Slim £33.6bn – Telecommunications
2 Bill Gates £29.3bn – Computer software
3 Warren Buffett £26bn – Investments
4 Ingvar Kamprad £17bn – IKEA homeware
5 Lakshmi Mittal £16bn – Steel
6 Sheldon Adelson £14bn – Property development
7 Bernard Arnault £13bn – Art, wine, fashion
8 Amancio Ortega £12bn – Fashion
9 Li Ka-Shing £11.5bn – Port operator, retailer
10 David Thomson £11bn – Media