06 March, 2013

By VIVA Team

Zara's Amancio Ortega is Spain's - and Europe's - richest man, and the world's third-richest

The co-founder of the Inditex fashion group, Amancio Ortego, has leapfrogged American Warren Buffett and Frenchman Bernard Arnault to become the third-richest person in the world, according to the 2013 annual ranking of billionaires by Forbes magazine.

Ortega is estimated to be worth $57bn (€44bn), a fortune accrued thanks to Inditex Group’s dominance of Europe’s fashion market, with brands such as Zara and Massimo Dutti household names throughout the continent.

Top spot on the Forbes billionaire list goes to Carlos Slim of Mexico and America Movil fame, who is estimated to be worth a whopping $73bn (€56bn), while Microsoft’s Bill Gates is in second place, his personal wealth thought to be a staggering $67bn (€51bn).

However, nobody in the world got richer quicker than Ortega in 2012 – his fortune increased by $19.5bn (€15bn) last year, enough to leapfrog Warren Buffett and knock him out of the top three for the first time since the turn of the Millennium.

“Warren had a great year, it’s just that Amancio Ortega had a better year,” said Randall Lane, editor of Forbes magazine. “He has one of the dominant apparel lines in Europe.”

Brands such as Zara, Pull and Bear and Bershka have cornered much of the Iberian market for affordable fashion, and their influence in 2012 grew throughout vast parts of western Europe. Zara, in particular, has ridden the economic downturn extremely well, and is a real Spanish success story.

Ortega himself is an intensely private man. He gives few interviews and manages to stay out of the headlines, despite being at the helm of a group that owns more than 1,500 stores in 70 countries. As a proud, humble Spaniard, it is rumoured that he wears the same (no doubt stylish) outfit to work everyday, and dines with staff in the cafeteria at the company’s HQ.

The 76-year-old spends most of his free time on his luxury estate in La Coruña, northern Spain, and rarely takes a day off – apparently he loves work too much.

Hard work, modesty and a touch of inspiration – a perfect cocktail for a perfect businessman.