Amancio Ortega |
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Amancio Ortega Gaona (born March 28, 1936) is a fashion entrepreneur, Spain's richest man, and the founder and chairman of the Inditex Group. He currently lives with his second wife in a discreet apartment building in the centre of A Coruña.
Ortega was born in León and started out at age 14 as a gofer in a shirt store in A Coruña, Galicia. In 1963 he started 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 is the majority shareholder of the Inditex group (Industrias de Diseño Textil Sociedad Anónima) which includes the brands Zara, Massimo Dutti, and Pull & Bear, among others, 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. 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.
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