Amancio Ortega overtakes Bill Gates to become the richest person in the world

Amancio Ortega is currently the richest person in the world, a position he took from Bill Gates



Spanish retailer and Zara founder, Amancio Ortega, is now the richest person in the world, with a $200 million edge over previous leader Bill Gates.

According to Forbes’ real time ranking, Ortega is now worth an estimated $85 billion, up an extra $1.2 billion from last month.

The 81-year-old Ortega has held the top position three times before, but he has always relinquished the lead within a day. Most recently, he surpassed Bill Gates on Tuesday, but by the end of the afternoon he was $100 million behind the Microsoft co-founder. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who held the top spot for a brief period last month is now ranked No. 3 with $82 billion.

A former store clerk, Amancio Ortega founded Inditex with his late ex-wife, Rosalia Mera, in 1975. They grew the business into an international juggernaut that now has a market capitalization of more than $100 billion. The company’s flagship store is Zara, but it also owns Zara Home, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Oysho, Pull and Bear, Stradivarius and Uterque.