Amancio Ortega
Gaona
(born March 28,
1936,
Busdongo de
Arbas,
León)
is a
Spanish
fashion
entrepreneur.
Ranked by
Forbes as
Spain's
richest man;
Europe's 2nd
Richest man; and
the 9th richest
man in the World
in 2010. He is
the founder,
with his
then-wife
Rosalía Mera,
and chairman of
the
Inditex Group.
He currently
lives with his
second wife in a
discreet
apartment
building in the
centre of
A Coruña
(Corunna).
Ortega arrived at A 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 A Coruña, Galicia, in 1963 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 14,000 employees.
Ortega keeps a very low profile and there are practically no photographs of him (except from one photo published at the Inditex website). 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).



