Imogen Calderwood
SPANISH fashion tycoon Amancio Ortega Gaona was named third richest person in the world today, in Forbes’ annual world’s billionaires list.
Fashion executive and founding chairman of the Inditex group, parent of popular chains Zara, Pull & Bear and Bershka, Ortega is said to be worth $64billion.
Ortega was beaten to the top spot by US tech tycoon Bill Gates ($76billion), the world’s richest man for 15 of the last 20 years, and Mexico’s multi-tasker Carlos Slim ($72billion), involved in everything from telecommunications to mining, finance, industry, retail and real estate.
The 1,645 men and women who make the list have an average wealth of $4.5billion, and an astounding collective wealth of $6.4trillion, an improvement of $1trillion from last year.
The $507billion combined fortunes of the top ten is larger than the entire size of the 2012 economy of Norway, Belgium or Poland.
