Billionaire Carlos Slim buys Duke-Semens Mansion

Billionaire Carlos Slim the richest man in the world buys Duke-Semens mansion for $44M in New York City. Mexican mogul Carlos Slim who already owns a major interest in the New York Times and a major 11-story office building at 417 Fifth Ave in Manhattan has added a new trophy, the magnificent Duke-Semens mansion across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 82nd St and 5th ave.

The townhouse, at 1009 Fifth Ave. is one of the only private mansions left on Fifth Avenue . Most of the mansions were knocked down when a wave of apartment towers were built in the 1920s.Slim built a telecommunications empire in Mexico and now listed by Forbes magazine’s as the world’s richest man. The Duke-Semans mansion, was long owned by descendants of the original owner, Benjamin N. Duke, a tobacco magnate who bought it when it was built in 1901 and kept it in the family until 2006. It became a New York City landmark in 1974.

The deal was closed for $44 million cash, when the billionaire swooped in and snatched the prize right from the clutches of a mystery Russian buyer whose starting bid was around $37 million, sources said.

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