- Amancio Ortega, the founder of clothing retailer Zara, is the sixth-richest person in the world, according to Forbes.
- The 82-year-old Spaniard is worth an estimated $62.7 billion.
- Ortega owns 59% of Inditex, the world’s largest clothing retailer that owns Zara, Pull&Bear, Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius, and other brands.
- He has bought properties in Madrid, London, Miami Beach, and New York City.
He may be the sixth-richest person in the world, but few people know his name. Amancio Ortega is the Spanish billionaire behind Inditex, the world’s largest clothing retailer that owns Zara, Pull&Bear, Bershka, Massimo Dutti, and Stradivarius, and other brands.
Ortega is worth an estimated $62.7 billion, according to Forbes.
The mysterious Zara founder was briefly the world’s richest man back in 2015, Forbes reported. He bypassed the then-richest person, Bill Gates, when his net worth peaked to $80 billion as Zara’s parent company Inditex’s stock peaked.
But when the stock went back down, Ortega went back to being the world’s second-richest man, a title he gained in June 2015.
Despite Ortega's impressive net worth, many people have never heard of him. The 82-year-old Spaniard fiercely guards his privacy and gives few interviews to the press.
Ortega founded fast-fashion giant Zara with his then-wife Rosalia in 1975. Today, his retail company Inditex SA - which owns eight brands including Zara, Massimo Dutti, and Pull&Bear - has more than 7,500 stores around the world.
Ortega is surpassed in wealth by only five people: Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Bernard Arnault, and Carlos Slim Helu. But Bloomberg's data notes that since last year, Gates' net worth has decreased by $1.1 billion, while Ortega's has increased by an impressive $10.4 billion.
Ashley Lutz and Mallory Schlossberg contributed to an earlier version of this story.
Amancio Ortega is the sixth-richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $67.9 billion.
Source: Bloomberg
Ortega owns 59% of Inditex, the world's largest clothing retailer that owns brands including Zara ...
Source: Bloomberg
... Pull&Bear, a teen-focused retailer with 970 stores in 76 markets around Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South America ...
Source: Business Insider
... Bershka, which is the second-largest chain by store count in Inditex's entire operation, with its sales representing 9% of the total revenue for the group ...
Source: Business Insider
... Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius, Oysho, Uterqüe, and Zara Home.
Source: Business Insider
Ortega was born in northwestern Spain in 1936, the son of a railroad worker and a stay-at-home mother.
Source: Bloomberg
He started making clothes with his siblings and future wife, Rosalia Mera, in their home in the early 1960s. In 1975, Ortega and Mera opened the first Zara store in downtown La Coruna, Spain.
Source: Bloomberg
Ten years later, in 1985, Ortega incorporated Zara into a holding company called Inditex. He and his wife, Mera, separated around that time, but she remained the company's second-largest shareholder.
Source: Bloomberg
In August 2013, Mera died at age 69 as Spain's richest woman.
Source: Associated Press
Ortega has been married to his second wife, Flora Perez, since 2001.
Source: Bloomberg
Ortega and Perez share a daughter, Marta, who is a senior creative consultant at Zara Women.
Source: Brides
She married top Spanish equestrian Sergio Álvarez Moya in February 2012, but the couple separated in 2015.
Source: Brides, ThinkSpain.com
In November 2018, Marta married Carlos Torretta, a modeling agent and son of designer Roberto Torrettain, at her family's home in Galicia, Spain.
Source: Brides, W Magazine
Spanish publications called the ceremony, which reportedly included a socialite-studded guest list, the "wedding of the year."
Source: W Magazine
Ortega's older daughter with his late ex-wife Mera, Sandra Ortega Mera, inherited the title of Spain's richest woman after her mother's death.
Source: Bloomberg
Worth an estimated $6.85 billion, she controls 5% of Inditex through her holding company, Rosp Corunna.
Source: Bloomberg
Ortega and his wife, Flora, live in a discreet apartment building in La Coruna, Spain, near a major port of the Atlantic Ocean.
Source: Forbes
At one point, Ortega owned the Pazo de Dodro farm and estate near La Coruna. The estate was the site of his daughter, Marta's, wedding to Sergio Alvarez Moya, but it's unclear whether Ortega still owns it.
Source: El Mundo
Ortega is known for being private. In 2012, Bloomberg noted that he had only granted interviews to three journalists. He also dresses modestly, usually wearing a simple uniform of a blue blazer, white shirt, and gray pants — none of which are Zara products.
Source: Bloomberg
He goes to the same coffee shop every day and eats lunch with his employees in the company cafeteria.
Sources: Publico.es and adlatina.com
In his free time, Ortega is often seen at equestrian events and he owns an equestrian center in Finisterre in Galicia, Spain.
Source: Getty Images, Bloomberg
In 2012, it was reported that Ortega drives an Audi A8 luxury sedan said to be more about comfort than luxury, but it's unclear what he drives now.
Source: Elite Choice
He also owns a Global Express BD-700, a private jet designed by Bombardier, one of the leading manufacturers of luxury private jets. The plane carries a price tag of $45 million.
Source: Elite Choice
But Ortega rarely jets off on vacation. He says he loves working too much to take time off.
Source: adlatina.com
He has, however, been seen relaxing on his yacht, a 67-meter vessel called Drizzle, in Saint Tropez on the French Riviera.
Source: Daily Mail
Ortega founded the Amancio Ortega Foundation in 2001, a charitable organization focused on education and social welfare. In 2017, the foundation donated $344 million to Spanish public hospitals to provide the latest technology in breast cancer screening and treatment.
Source: Amancio Ortega Foundation, Philanthropy News Digest
Ortega owns significant real estate assets, many through his company's real-estate investment arm, Pontegadea Inmobiliaria. In 2011, he bought the tallest skyscraper in Spain at 515 feet, the Torre Picasso in Madrid, for $536 million.
Source: Reuters
And in 2016, he purchased another Madrid skyscraper, Cepsa Tower, for $551 million.
Source: Reuters
He owns the Epic Residences and Hotel in Miami, considered to be one of the best luxury hotels in the US and worth $536 million.
Source: Mirror
And in 2015, he paid $370 million for an entire block of prime property in Miami Beach.
Source: Miami Herald
Ortega also reportedly bought an office block in London's affluent Mayfair neighborhood that borders Hyde Park ...
Source: Reuters
... as well as a property on London's prime shopping street, Oxford Street ...
Source: Reuters
... and the historic E.V. Haughwout Building in SoHo, New York City, which he bought for $145 million in 2015.
Source: Reuters, The Real Deal
Ortega picked up another New York property in 2016, this time a hotel at 70 Park Avenue in Murray Hill for $67.6 million.
Source: The Real Deal
Zara has become one of the best-known and most successful fashion brands in the world.
Source: Business Insider
Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, is one of the most prominent fans of Zara's designs and is often photographed in its clothing.
Source: INSIDER
Ortega earns $400 million per year in dividends, according to Forbes.
Source: Forbes
Since Ortega stepped down as Inditex's chairman in 2011, leaving the position to Pablo Isla, rumors have swirled that his daughter, Marta, will eventually take over the company.
Source: Bloomberg
