World’s richest man purchases $44 million New York mansion

Mexican telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim, who beat out Warren Buffet and Bill Gates tocapture the title of World's Richest Man earlier this year with an astonishing net worth of $53.5 billion, has purchased the stunning Duke-Semans Mansion in New York for a cool $44 million. Located in the corner of Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street, on New York's vaunted "Museum Mile", the mansion had an asking price of $50 million. It's a price considered something of a discount but still the fourth highest price ever paid for a Manhattan townhouse. The 19,500-square-foot mansion, built in 1901, currently has a doctor's office in the basement, a five-story main residence, a penthouse duplex on top, 12 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, and 11 wood-burning fireplaces. The mansion, built in 1901 by tobacco magnate Benjamin Duke, is an investment, like another property he picked up last month: a $140-million office tower, also on Fifth.