Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2016 2:47:45 GMT 7
How Zara's founder became the richest man in the world - for two days
Browsing the rails at Zara, you might not be aware of this: but there's an 80-year-old grandfather in northern Spain who helped pick out what you're taking to the till.
Amancio Ortega stepped down as chief executive at Zara's owner, Inditex, five years ago.
But he didn't give up work. Not at all.
Even this week, when the company's rising share price made him the richest man in the world for two days, he wasn't ready to retire.
Every day he still makes the 10km journey from his town centre house to the Inditex headquarters, based just outside the coastal town of La Coruna where he first launched the Zara brand.
Sometimes he sits down with the Zara Woman design team and they kick around ideas for the coming weeks and months - the new layout for a store, a new design for the upcoming winter collection. And if Mr Ortega has a hunch, they listen. After all he has 60 years' experience in fashion retail, built up from humble beginnings.
According to Forbes magazine, experts in estimating the bank balances of the world's wealthiest, Mr Ortega's fortune overtook that of Microsoft founder Bill Gates on Wednesday and Thursday this week, before fluctuating share prices pushed it back in to second place.
This was not Mr Ortega's first time at the top of the tree. In October 2015, he was the world's wealthiest man for a few hours. It was hailed as a milestone in Spain.
www.bbc.com/news/business-37317369
Browsing the rails at Zara, you might not be aware of this: but there's an 80-year-old grandfather in northern Spain who helped pick out what you're taking to the till.
Amancio Ortega stepped down as chief executive at Zara's owner, Inditex, five years ago.
But he didn't give up work. Not at all.
Even this week, when the company's rising share price made him the richest man in the world for two days, he wasn't ready to retire.
Every day he still makes the 10km journey from his town centre house to the Inditex headquarters, based just outside the coastal town of La Coruna where he first launched the Zara brand.
Sometimes he sits down with the Zara Woman design team and they kick around ideas for the coming weeks and months - the new layout for a store, a new design for the upcoming winter collection. And if Mr Ortega has a hunch, they listen. After all he has 60 years' experience in fashion retail, built up from humble beginnings.
According to Forbes magazine, experts in estimating the bank balances of the world's wealthiest, Mr Ortega's fortune overtook that of Microsoft founder Bill Gates on Wednesday and Thursday this week, before fluctuating share prices pushed it back in to second place.
This was not Mr Ortega's first time at the top of the tree. In October 2015, he was the world's wealthiest man for a few hours. It was hailed as a milestone in Spain.
www.bbc.com/news/business-37317369
