Amancio Ortega takes over from Bill Gates as World's richest man

Spanish retail tycoon and Zara co-founder Amancio Ortega who became the world’s richest person on Tuesday afternoon lost the spot to Bill Gates once again, according to Forbes.


It was a tight competition between the two leaders as Ortega took a lead of a few millions on the Microsoft boss before falling behind when the US Markets closed.

The two were separated by a few million dollars only which forced them to switch positions in a gap of few minutes. As of 1:45 PM, EST, Bill Gates was the world’s richest person with a lead of few millions. At 2 PM, Ortega narrowed down the gap.

While Bill Gates’ net worth stood at $84.722 billion, the Zara boss’ wealth was at $84.72 billion.

However, in the next few minutes, Gates net worth dropped by 7 million dollars allowing Amancio Ortega to become the world’s richest man. However, when the market ended Ortega finished $100 million behind Bill Gates, on the second spot.

Bill Gates has been passed three times in last two years: twice by Ortega and once by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Yesterday, Ortega very briefly took the top spot from Gates for the third time.