Amancio Ortega is a millionaire businessman from Spain who was born on March 28, 1936. The Inditex fashion firm, well known for its network of Zara and Bershka apparel and accessory stores, was founded by him and he served as its previous chairman. With a net worth of $62.9 billion as of November 2022, Ortega ranked 18th in the world and third in Europe, after Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and Bernard Arnault. He briefly overtook Bill Gates as the richest person in the world in 2015 when his net worth hit an all-time high of $80 billion concurrent with the stock top of Zara's parent company, Inditex. He is the second-richest retailer in the world and the leader of the Ortega family.
Early Life And Education
The youngest of four children, Ortega was born in Busdongo de Arbas, León, Spain to Valladolid natives Antonio Ortega Rodrguez and Josefa Gaona Hernández. He spent his early years in the Gipuzkoan town of Tolosa.
At the age of 14, he dropped out of school and relocated to A Corua because of his father's employment as a railway worker. Shortly after, he discovered employment as a shop assistant for a nearby shirtmaker named Gala, which continues to operate on the same location in the heart of A Corua.
Career
He established Confecciones Goa in 1963 to market quilted bathrobes.
Together with his wife Rosala Mera, he founded the first Zara shop in 1975.
The Inditex group, of which Ortega owned 59.29% in 2009, included the brands Zara, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Zara Home, Kiddy's Class, Tempe, Stradivarius, Pull and Bear, and Bershka in addition to having more than 6,000 stores and more than 92,000 employees.
His 2000 public presentation, which served as a warm-up for his company's 2001 IPO on the stock market, garnered media attention in the Spanish financial press. But just three journalists have ever had interviews with him.
The Spanish Association of Foundations presented Amancio Ortega with a prize in the 2017 Philanthropic Initiative category in July 2017 as part of the second round of the AEF awards. In addition, he gave 300 million euros to Spain's battle against cancer, which went towards the acquisition of 440 cancer-detection devices. As a result, there are now 70 public hospitals in Spain that have stereotactic radiation equipment. Previously, there were only 20. However, certain political groups, including Podemos, did not agree with these decisions and voiced their criticism. According to recent reports, he just purchased the Troy Block complex, which is most known as one of the structures housing Amazon Seattle's headquarters.
In July 2020, it was made public that Ortega owned $17.2 billion worth of real estate through his investment firm, Pontegadea. The Southeast Financial Centre in Manhattan and the Haughwout Building in Manhattan are among the real estate holdings owned by Ortega, who serves as the executive chairman of Pontegadea. The corporation purchased a hotel in downtown Chicago for $72.5 million in 2019, after also purchasing two office buildings in Seattle and a structure in Washington's financial centre.
According to reports, Ortega suffered $10 billion in losses as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
For 281.64 million euros in December 2019, Pontegadea purchased 5% of the energy firm Enagás. In July 2021, it purchased the same stake in Red Eléctrica, another energy business, and 12% in Redes Energéticas Nacionais, which run the electrical systems in Portugal and Spain, respectively.