Amancio Ortega Beats Bill Gates to Become World Richest Man

The the 80-year-old Spanish founder of the Zara fashion chain Amancio Ortega has overtaken Bill Gates to become the world's richest man.

Amancio Ortega's personal fortune leapt by $1.7billion this week to $79.5billion - taking the entrepreneur past the Microsoft cofounder's estimated $78.5billion.

 Amancio Ortega, already Europe's richest man, now tops the global list, with a larger net worth than the likes of US investor Warren Buffett and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Forbes reported that he became the world's richest man on Wednesday when shares of his business Inditex, parent company to Zara, Massimo Dutti and Pull&Bear, went up 2.5 per cent. It is not the first time he has topped the list and was briefly ahead of Bill Gates in October before a surge in Microsoft shares put him back in second place.

 Ortega never gives interviews and is rarely photographed....