Amancio Ortega

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Amancio Ortega Gaona (born March 28, 1936 in Busdongo , Province of León ) is a Spanish entrepreneur in the clothing sector and is considered the second richest man in Europe and the sixth richest man worldwide. With his wife at the time, Rosalía Mera , he founded what is now the Inditex Group (Industria de Diseño Textil), of which he is the majority shareholder and chairman of the board. The Forbes magazine leads him in 2017 as fourth on the list of the richest people in the world with an estimated fortune of 71.3 billion US dollars .

Signature of Amancio Ortega

Career

Ortega is the son of a railroad employee. His career began at the age of 14 as a handyman in a clothing store in A Coruña . His activities as a textile entrepreneur began in 1963: Initially, Ortega was a manufacturer of bathrobes . In 1972 he founded Confecciones GOA (his initials read backwards), the first company in what is now the Inditex Group. The company grew steadily and started exporting to various European countries.

In 1975 the first Zara store opened in downtown A Coruña. As a result, a chain of shops sprang up across Spain. In 1988 the first branch abroad was set up in Porto . A branch in New York followed in 1989, and one in Paris in 1990 . The first Zara store in Germany was opened in 1999. Today there are over 1,700 Zara stores in Europe, North and South America, Asia, Australia, the Middle East and Africa.

Due to the increasing business volume and the expansion of the business fields , the Inditex group of companies was founded in 1985 . In addition to Zara, the brands Massimo Dutti , Pull & Bear , Stradivarius, Bershka , Oysho and others belong to Inditex. According to its own information, the Inditex Group had a turnover of 15.9 billion euros and 120,000 employees in 2012. The eight retail chains in the group therefore have more than 6,000 stores in 86 countries / markets.

In addition to the textile industry, Ortega u. a. also active in the real estate and financial sector , in the motor vehicle trade and in investment fund management.

Private life

After divorcing his first wife in 1986, Ortega is a second married to Flora Pérez Marcote, a former employee in one of his factories. Both live so secluded in A Coruña that his face has been one of the greatest secrets of the Spanish business world for years. There are hardly any photos of him. When he made public appearances in preparation for his company's IPO (2001) in 2000 , he made headlines in the Spanish financial press. He has not yet given any interviews.

The entrepreneur has a son from his first marriage who was born severely disabled. In 1986 Ortega therefore supported the founding of Paideia, an institution that helps children and young people with disabilities . This was led by his first wife until her death. In 2001, the Amancio Ortega Foundation, a private, non-profit organization, was set up. Its task is to promote activities in culture, research, science and education.

Furthermore, Ortega should not wear ties and prefer jeans . He is considered a fan of equestrian sports, cars and painting.

In October 2012, Ortega donated 20 million euros to the Catholic aid organization Caritas, according to him, to help socially disadvantaged people who were suffering from the economic crisis.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Rich ranking: These are the richest people in Europe. In: Capital.de. May 9, 2019, accessed June 20, 2019 (German).
  2. Reiche: First European in the 100 billion dollar club - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Economy. Retrieved June 20, 2019 .
  3. The World's Billionaires # 4 Amancio Ortega. Forbes, accessed March 26, 2017 .
  4. Tages-Anzeiger: Der Weltschneider from January 3, 2013, accessed on March 2, 2014
  5. "Tiendas en el mundo" ( Memento of August 8, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (Spanish)
  6. Numbers according to Inditex: "Nuestro Grupo" ( Memento from August 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (Spanish)
  7. Muere Rosalia Mera, cofundadora junto a de Amancio Ortega's Inditex. EFE , August 16, 2013, accessed August 16, 2013 (Spanish).
  8. faz.net