Forbes confirms Inditex founder Amancio Ortega as richest person in Spain

Amancio Ortega, the cofounder of the Inditex clothing group, is the richest man in Spain, according to the Spanish edition of Forbes Magazine published Wednesday. Forbes estimates Ortega's fortune to be in the region of 47.6 billion euros (65.5 billion U.S. dollars), due to the success of Inditex, which includes such well-known brands as Zara, Massimo Dutti and Pull and Bear. The man who started his business from a small shop in the north-western city of La Coruna is the richest man in the country by a considerable distance with his capital worth the same as the next 20 people in the list. Juan Roig, the owner of the Mercadona supermarket chain, is the second richest man in the country with capital estimated at 5.8 billion euros. The data showed that the overall wealth of Spain's 100 richest people is 158.5 billion euros, equivalent to 15.8 percent of the country's GDP. King Juan Carlos and members of his family did not appear on the Forbes list as the magazine confirmed "the wealth of the monarch continues to be unknown and it will continue to be so despite the new transparency of information law."