Amancio Ortega Gaona
| Amancio Ortega | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Amancio Ortega Gaona 28 March 1936 Busdongo de Arbás, León, Spain |
| Residence | A Coruña, Spain |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Co-founder of Inditex Group |
| Net worth | US$75.2 billion (April 2017) |
| Board member of | Inditex (CEO) Daez (COO) |
| Spouse(s) |
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| Children | 3; including Sandra Ortega Mera |
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Amancio Ortega Gaona (Spanish pronunciation: [aˈmanθjo orˈteɣa ɣaˈona]; born 12 March 1936) is a Spanish business tycoon. He is the founder and former chairman of Inditex fashion group, best known for its chain of Zara clothing and accessories retail shops.
According to Forbes Magazine, he is currently the richest person in Europe and was, until March 2017, the second richest in the world with an estimated net worth of $71.3 billion.
The youngest of four children, Ortega was born in Busdongo de Arbás, León, Spain, to Antonio Ortega Rodríguez and Josefa Gaona Hernández from the province of Valladolid, and spent his childhood in León.
He left school and moved to A Coruña at the age of 14, due to the job of his father, a railway worker. Shortly after, he found a job as a shop hand for a local shirtmaker called Gala, which still sits on the same corner in downtown A Coruña, and learned to make clothes by hand. In 1972, he founded Confecciones Goa (his initials in reverse), selling quilted bathrobes which Ortega produced using thousands of local women organised into sewing cooperatives.
In 1975, he opened his first Zara store with his wife Rosalía Mera, so called because his preferred name Zorba was already taken.
Today, Zara is part of the Inditex group (Industrias de Diseño Textil Sociedad Anónima), of which Ortega owns 59.29%, and aside from over 6,000 stores includes the brands Zara, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Zara Home, Kiddy's Class, Tempe, Stradivarius, Pull and Bear, Bershka and has more than 92,000 employees.
Ortega keeps a very low profile and is known for his preference for a simple lifestyle. Until 1999, no photograph of Ortega had ever been published. He refuses to wear a tie and typically wears a simple uniform of a blue blazer, white shirt, and gray trousers, none of which are Zara products. He is said to take a very active part in the production and design process in the company.
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