Tycoon loses $6.7bn (but he is still worth $64.4bn)

The richest person in the world lost about $6.7bn (£4bn) as the world's stock markets endured a precipitous fall last week.

Luckily for Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecoms tycoon, his fortune is so vast that the enormous loss will barely be noticeable. His portfolio of stocks, which has fallen by some 9.5 per cent since 29 July, is still worth $64.4bn, according to a Bloomberg financial analysis. Still, it has been a difficult week for Slim. His shares fell by considerably more than the top 500 shares in the US, which nonetheless dropped by some 7.2 per cent. He was further hurt by the peso's slide against the dollar.

The effect on Slim's lifestyle is unlikely to be profound. Ranked as the richest person in the world by Forbes magazine this year, he does not enjoy the kind of life typically associated with billionaires. He lives in a relatively modest six-bedroom house, and in general eschews the yachts and fast cars he might be expected to own. His chief indulgences are fine art and cigars.

He is not the only member of the world's financial elite to suffer during the recent market turmoil. Lakshmi Mittal, the British-based steel magnate, saw $3.5bn wiped off the value of his 41 per cent holding in his own company. Despite losing an estimated one-fifth of his fortune, Mittal remains the UK's richest person.