News 11 September 2016
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Author: Marisa Lee

This guy just overtook Bill Gates as the richest man in the world

Author Marisa Lee
11 September 2016
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The founder of high street shop Zara has overtaken Bill Gates to hold the title of the world’s richest man.

80 year old Amancio Ortega, who opened the first Zara in Spain in 1975, watched his personal fortune jump by £1.3 billion to £6 billion this week, beating Bill Gates’ estimated £5.9 billion. The increase led Ortega, who was already Europe’s richest man, to claim the spot of the world’s richest man too.

Low-key Ortega stepped down as chief executive at Zara’s parent company, Intedex, five years ago, but didn’t stop working. He avoids interviews and media appearances wherever he can, and still makes the 10km journey from his town to the Intedex headquarters every day.

Forbes reported that Ortega rose to the top on Wednesday following Intedex’ shares increasing by 2.5 per cent. His net worth is now reportedly larger than Amazon founded Jeff Bezos.