In a story published Thursday night, Forbes said Amancio Ortega, the reclusive Spanish retailing magnate who founded Zara, has surpassed Bill Gates to become the richest man in the world.
Advertisement
On the other hand, Gates remains as America’s top billionaire and the world’s richest person in the tech industry. The 80-year-old Spanish retailer was previously worth an estimated US$77.8 billion (AU$101.7 billion).
But it’s his daughter that is likely to benefit from his huge empire, with 31-year-old Marta expected to take over the running of the worldwide business.
Zara founder Amancio Ortega and Bill Gates are now trading places on the list of the world’s wealthiest people.
He now has a larger net worth than United States investor Warren Buffett and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
BAG A BARGAIN Want a designer handbag for a fraction of the price?
Ortega, from La Coruna, transformed clothing group Inditex from a tiny family dressmaker into Spain’s biggest company using its “fast fashion” model.
Last year, his sales blossomed as Inditex shares rose almost 40 per cent. Zara has over 2,100 stores that span across 88 different countries, and its brand value of $10.7 billion comes in at No.53 on the Forbes list of World’s Most Valuable Brands.
His second wife Flora Perez, 61, sits on the board.
Advertisement
Both of their bank accounts have a lot of zeros, though only one billionaire can be number 1.
