The 10 Most Surprising Business Stories Of 2013

In its latest World Economic Outlook report, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasted global growth to average 2.9% in 2013 -- below the 3.2% recorded in 2012. Still according to the IMF, the world economy should rise 3.6% in 2014, with advanced economies such as that of the United States finally showing signs of recovery while major emerging markets, although still very strong, are expected to be weaker than previous forecasts.

In others words, the world's biggest economies brought the global economy back from the brink last year, and in spite of the fact that they risk triggering an adverse shock once emerging markets begin to claim their place at the top, they are still the ones in charge.

“This transition is leading to tensions, with emerging market economies facing both the challenge of slowing growth and changing global financial conditions,” said Olivier Blanchard, the IMF’s chief economist and head of the Research Department.

That in a way is symbolized on the list of the 10 Most Surprising Business Stories of 2013. Take the case of Mexican billionaire and former world's richest man Carlos Slim Helu, who this year was dethroned in FORBES' World's Billionaires list by Bill Gates, a veteran in our ranking who topped the list for a record 13 years.

Slim, who made his fortune building an old-fashioned conglomerate empire with interests in diverse sectors such as telecommunications and cement, took a hit this year after authorities in Mexico included an amendment to the country's constitution that could tear apart his company's mobile phone holdings. Mexico is on the rise, and breaking down dominant positions is part of their path towards a more competitive and attractive market for foreign investors.

But while Slim has plenty of opportunities to explore in other emerging Latin American countries such as Brazil and Argentina, the same cannot be said about former Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista, whose commodity startups have lost billions of dollars over the last year and whose personal net worth has shrunk from an estimated $30 billion in March 2012 to less than $500 million, due to over-hyped promises and massively under-achieved results.

The pièce-de-résistance in Batista's reversal of fortune came in October, when his troubled oil firm OGX filed for bankruptcy protection in the largest default in Latin American history, disclosing total debt worth $4.8 billion. A few weeks later, Batista's shipbuilding company OSX also filed for bankruptcy protection with a total debt worth some $2.3 billion. As much as Batista's case coincides with the fact that Brazil has begun to suffer from stagnant levels of economic growth, it is inaccurate to say that his collapse is a consequence of the country's economic deceleration as he has no one to blame but himself.

Unlike Slim and Batista, however, other billionaires have better things to remember about 2013. In February, Warren Buffett partnered with Jorge Paulo Lemann, Brazil's richest man, to buy Heinz in a $28 billion deal. Lemann, a Harvard-educated billionaire, already owns controlling stakes in Anheuser-Busch InBev and Burger King. And Buffett, who never does anything half heartedly, saw in Lemann the perfect partner for the perfect deal.

Perhaps that's what the future has in store: entrepreneurs from rich countries teaming up with their peers from emerging ones to achieve common goals.

Slim's fall in the world's richest list and Batista's empire collapse, as well as Buffett and Lemann's touchdown deal are some of the The Ten Most Surprising Business Stories Of 2013.