A few months ago, Zara founder Amancio Ortega overtook renowned Nebraska investor Warren Buffett to become the second-richest man in the world. Well, this morning, he continued his ascent up the world's billionaire charts when, for a brief moment in time, he was the single richest man in the world ahead of noted nerd and overall good guy, Bill Gates.
This morning, Ortega's net worth eclipsed $80 billion as stock in his holding company Industria de Diseño Textil (Inditex) jumped to 33.99 Euros a share. A few minutes later, the stock dipped down to 33.80 and he was back into first loser place, though, let's be real, there ain't no losers in this game.
As stocks prices look to assuredly jump up and down, and with Ortega sitting right on the cusp of being the richest man alive, he'll probably swap spots with Billy Gates a few more times in the coming days. Though, it seems that eventually Ortega is going to permanently jump over the Windows man. Inditex shares are up more than 50% in the last year and with the continued success of Zara, probably won't slow down anytime soon. Forbes notes that his ascent is particularly impressive as the Euro has weakened in comparison with the US Dollar lately.
It'll be cool when he's finally on top of the charts so we we have some credence when we continually tell people how fashion is more important than technology. ZAR-AH *Kanye voice*!
