Tenth Spot: Amancio Ortega Gaona
Amancio Ortega Gaona (born March 28, 1936,
Spain) is a fashion entrepreneur, Spain's richest man and the founder,
with his then-wife Rosalia Mera, and chairman of the Inditex
Group. He currently lives with his second wife in a discreet
apartment building in the centre of A Coruña (Corunna).
In 2007 he was named the 8th richest man in the
world with a $24 billion fortune, slipping out the top twenty
richest in 2008 and returning to tenth spot in 2009 with an
$18.3 billion fortune (despite losing over $5 billion during
2008).
Fortune |
Business |
Country |
Status |
18.3
Billion |
Apparel |
Spain |
Married, 3 children |
|
Ortega arrived at La Coruña, Galicia, at age 14, due to
the job of his father, railway worker.
Starting as a gofer in various shirt stores in A Coruña,
Galicia, in 1963 he founded Confecciones Goa (his initials in
reverse), which made bathrobes.
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In 1975 he opened the first store in
what would grow into the enormously popular chain of
fashion stores called Zara. He is the majority shareholder of
the Inditex group (Industrias de Diseño Textil Sociedad
Anónima) which includes the brands Zara, Massimo Dutti,
Oysho, Zara Home, Kiddy's Class, Tempe, Stradivarius, Pull and
Bear/Often and Bershka and has more than 14,000 employees. Ortega keeps a very low profile and there are practically no
photographs of him (except from one photo published at the Inditex
website). He refuses to wear a tie, and likes to dress in blue
jeans. He is said to take a very active part in the production
and design process in the company. (wiki)
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