Amancio Ortega Gaona

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Amancio Ortega
Born	Amancio Ortega Gaona (1936-03-28) March 28, 1936 (age 76) Busdongo de Arbás, León, Spain
Residence	A Coruña, Spain
Nationality	Spanish
Occupation	Businessman
Known for	Co-founder of the Inditex group, World's #7 wealthiest person
Net worth	US$37.5 billion (2012)[1]
Board member of	Inditex (CEO)
Spouse	Rosalía Mera (divorced), Flora Pérez Marcote (2001-)
Children	Sandra Ortega Mera, Marcos Ortega Mera, Marta Ortega Pérez
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Amancio Ortega Gaona (born March 28, 1936) is a Spanish fashion executive and founding chairman (1985) of the Spanish clothing merchandiser Inditex. He is ranked by Forbes as Spain's richest man; Europe's second richest man; and the fifth richest man in the world in 2011.^[2] He currently lives with his second wife in a discreet apartment building in the centre of A Coruña.

Ortega was born in Busdongo de Arbás, León, and lived his childhood in León. He moved to La Coruña, Spain, at the age of 14, due to the job of his father, a railway worker. Starting as a gofer in various shirt stores in La Coruña, Galicia, in 1972 he founded Confecciones Goa (his initials in reverse), which made bathrobes. In 1975 he opened the first store in what would grow into the enormously popular chain of fashion stores called Zara. He owns 59.29% 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 92,000 employees.^[3]

Ortega keeps a very low profile. He refuses to wear a tie, and likes to dress in blue jeans and T-shirts. He is said to take a very active part in the production and design process in the company.

When he made a public appearance in 2000 - as part of the warm-up prior to floating his company on the stock market in 2001 - it made headlines in the Spanish financial press. However, he has never given an interview, and his secrecy has led to the publication of books such as Amancio Ortega: DE CERO A ZARA (From Zero to Zara).

Ortega, announced his imminent retirement from the fast-fashion giant Inditex, parent company of the Zara chain, stating that he will ask Inditex vice-president and CEO Pablo Isla to take his place at the helm of the textile empire.^[4]

See also

• List of billionaires

Bibliography

• Blanco, Xabier; Salgado, Jesús (2004). Amancio Ortega, de cero a Zara: El primer libro de investigación sobre el imperio Inditex. Esfera de los Libros. pp. 271. ISBN 978-84-9734-167-7. 

References