Amancio Ortega

Founder, Chief Executive Officer

Billionaire Amancio Ortega, born in a Spanish village, turned a textile and retail business into a global portfolio of marquee properties.

His family firm, Pontegadea, has been on a real estate spending spree. South Florida purchases include a downtown Fort Lauderdale rental tower for $165 million, a Miami Design District retail building for roughly $110 million and a Brickell office tower for $274 million. The firm has snapped up other U.S. properties – perhaps to shield dividends from Spain’s hefty taxes.

Ortega learned his trade working for a shirtmaker. In the 1980s he co-founded Inditex, which owns Zara and other fashion brands. The firm has faced accusations of labor exploitations in its fast-fashion brands. In 2013, a Spanish court ordered him to pay 33 million euros in back taxes tied to real estate investments. That’s a drop in the bucket for Ortega, who is worth nearly $150 billion.

— Lidia Dinkova