Amancio Ortega

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Lore & Background

Amancio Ortega was born on 28 March 1936 in Busdongo de Arbas, León, Spain, the youngest of four children. He left school and moved to A Coruña at age 14 due to his father's job as a railway worker. Shortly after, he found a job as a shop hand for a local shirtmaker called Gala and learned to make clothes by hand. In 1963, he founded Confecciones Goa to sell quilted bathrobes, and in 1975 he opened his first Zara store with his wife Rosalía Mera. By 2009, Zara was part of the Inditex group, of which Ortega owned 59.29%, with over 6,000 stores and more than 92,000 employees. His public appearance in 2000, as part of the warm-up prior to the company's IPO in 2001, made headlines in the Spanish financial press. However, he has only ever granted interviews to three journalists. Until 1999, no photograph of Ortega had ever been published. He likes to dress simply, refuses to wear a tie, and typically prefers a blue blazer, white shirt, and gray trousers, none of which are Zara products. He married Rosalía Mera in 1966 (divorced 1986) and later married Flora Pérez Marcote in 2001; he has three children: Marcos, Sandra, and Marta. In 2017, despite owning a huge real estate portfolio, he mostly lived with his wife in his apartment in A Coruña, Spain. He owns two yachts, 'Drizzle' and 'Valoria B', as well as a Gulfstream G650 jet.

Reader's Guide

Amancio Ortega's significance lies in his creation of the fast-fashion model through Inditex, particularly Zara, which revolutionized retail by rapidly bringing affordable, on-trend clothing to market. His business acumen made him briefly the richest man in the world in 2015. In 2011, he announced his retirement from Inditex, asking vice-president and CEO Pablo Isla to take his place. Beyond retail, Ortega built a substantial real estate portfolio through his investment company Pontegadea, holding properties in major cities across Europe and the United States, including Manhattan's Haughwout Building and Southeast Financial Center. In December 2019, Pontegadea acquired 5% of the energy company Enagás for 281.64 million euros, and in July 2021, it acquired 5% of Red Eléctrica and 12% of Redes Energéticas Nacionais. His philanthropic efforts, channeled through the Amancio Ortega Foundation, have focused on education and social welfare, including a €20 million donation to Caritas in October 2012 and a €320 million donation in March 2017 for cancer detection equipment in Spanish public hospitals, which raised the number of Spanish public hospitals equipped with stereotactic radiotherapy machines from 20 to 70. In November 2024, he created a €100 million fund to mitigate the impact of the DANA on the hardest-hit populations in Valencia. Despite his enormous wealth, Ortega maintains a low public profile, rarely appearing in media.

Did You Know?

• Until 1999, no photograph of Amancio Ortega had ever been published.
• He has only ever granted interviews to three journalists.
• In 2015, he was briefly the richest man in the world, surpassing Bill Gates when his net worth peaked at $80 billion.
• He donated €320 million to Spanish public healthcare systems to combat cancer, funding over 290 state-of-the-art detection and treatment systems.
• He owns two yachts named 'Drizzle' and 'Valoria B', as well as a Gulfstream G650 jet.