Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega tops Spain's rich list with $140 billion fortune

Amancio Ortega, the founder of Zara owner Inditex SA, is Spain's richest person again, with a fortune of €125.2 billion ($140.2 billion) on Forbes Spain's 2026 list of the country's 100 wealthiest people, published on Nov. 3.

His wealth rose by €15.3 billion ($17.1 billion), or 13.9%, from €109.9 billion a year earlier, as Inditex shares recovered from a weaker 2025. Ortega, who turned 90 in March, has led the ranking every year since 2014. He owns about 59% of Inditex, the world's largest fashion retailer by sales, mostly through his investment company Pontegadea.

The 100 people on the list are worth a combined €300.5 billion ($336.6 billion), a record and 16.1% more than last year. Ortega alone accounts for about 42% of that total. The cutoff to make the list was €510 million ($571 million).

The top 10

Sandra Ortega, Amancio Ortega's daughter, is second with €11.5 billion ($12.9 billion), up €1.5 billion. She holds 5.05% of Inditex through her company Rosp Corunna and is the richest woman in Spain, though her father's fortune is more than €113 billion larger than hers.

Juan Roig, the founder and chairman of supermarket chain Mercadona, climbed to third from fourth with €9.8 billion ($11 billion), up 24%. Mercadona, Spain's largest grocer, earned a record €1.73 billion ($1.94 billion) in 2025 and holds 28.5% of the Spanish grocery market.

Banker Juan Carlos Escotet, chairman and main shareholder of Galicia-based Abanca, rose to fourth with €8.1 billion ($9.1 billion). His 31% gain was the biggest in percentage terms among the top names, after Abanca posted a record profit in 2025.

Rafael del Pino, chairman and largest shareholder of infrastructure group Ferrovial SE, slipped to fifth from third. His fortune fell by €200 million to €7.8 billion ($8.7 billion), making him the only one of the top five to get poorer.

Hortensia Herrero, Roig's wife and the vice chair of Mercadona, is sixth with €5.55 billion ($6.2 billion). Florentino Pérez, the chairman of construction group ACS and president of Real Madrid, jumped to seventh from 10th with €4.9 billion ($5.5 billion) after a strong run in ACS shares.

Tomás Olivo, who owns almost all of shopping center operator General de Galerías Comerciales, fell to eighth from sixth with €4.9 billion ($5.5 billion). Forbes Spain applied a 20% discount to the company's value because so few of its shares trade freely. María del Pino Calvo-Sotelo, Rafael del Pino's sister and chair of the Rafael del Pino Foundation, is ninth with €4.2 billion ($4.7 billion), and Miguel Fluxà, executive chairman of hotel group Iberostar, rounds out the top 10 with €4.1 billion ($4.6 billion).

Newcomers on the list

Seven people joined the ranking this year. They include Banco Santander SA Chair Ana Botín, at No. 97 with €550 million ($616 million), and her brother Javier Botín, at No. 81 with €700 million ($784 million). Fernando Masaveu, who heads the industrial and investment group Corporación Masaveu, is the highest newcomer at No. 30 with €1.7 billion ($1.9 billion). Singer Julio Iglesias dropped to No. 92 from No. 81, with €600 million ($672 million).

From a Galician workshop

Ortega was born in León province in northern Spain in 1936 and left school at 14 to work in a shirt shop in A Coruña, in the northwestern region of Galicia. He opened the first Zara store in the city in 1975, and Inditex now runs more than 5,500 stores worldwide under brands including Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear and Bershka. He stepped down as chairman in 2011 but remains the company's controlling shareholder.

Pontegadea, which collects his Inditex dividends, has used the money to build one of Europe's largest private property portfolios, with office buildings, logistics centers and apartment blocks in Spain, the U.S., Britain and other countries.

Figures were converted at €1 to $1.12.