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Meet Amancio Ortega, the fiercely private Zara founder who's worth $62 billion and owns properties in Madrid, London, and New York City

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Amancio Ortega is the sixth-richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $67.9 billion.
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He may be the sixth-richest person in the world, but few people know his name. Amancio Ortega is the Spanish billionaire behind Inditex, the world's largest clothing retailer that owns Zara, Pull&Bear, Bershka, Massimo Dutti, and Stradivarius, and other brands.

The mysterious Zara founderwas briefly the world's richest man back in 2015, Forbes reported. He bypassed the then-richest person, Bill Gates, when his net worth peaked to $80 billion as Zara's parent company Inditex's stock peaked.

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But when the stock went back down, Ortega went back to being the world's second-richest man , a title he gained in June 2015.

Despite Ortega's impressive net worth, many people have never heard of him. The 82-year-old Spaniard fiercely guards his privacy and gives few interviews to the press.

Ortega founded fast-fashion giant Zara with his then-wife Rosalia in 1975. Today, his retail company Inditex SA which owns eight brands including Zara, Massimo Dutti, and Pull&Bear has more than 7,500 stores around the world.

Ortega is surpassed in wealth by only five people: Jeff Bezos , Bill Gates , Warren Buffett , Bernard Arnault , and Carlos Slim Helu . But Bloomberg's data notes that since last year, Gates' net worth has decreased by $1.1 billion, while Ortega's has increased by an impressive $10.4 billion.

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Ashley Lutz and Mallory Schlossberg contributed to an earlier version of this story.

See Also:

SEE ALSO: Meet the Arnaults, the French billionaires who control luxury-goods empire LVMH, own villas on the French Riviera and in LA, and rub shoulders with models, royalty, and tech moguls

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DON'T MISS: Meet the Ambanis, the richest family in Asia, who live in a $1 billion skyscraper and mingle with royals, politicians, and Bollywood stars

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