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Is Zara heiress Marta Ortega Pérez the ‘most powerful woman in fashion’? From sales clerk to taking over the multibillion-dollar Inditex fashion empire from dad Amancio Ortega, Spain’s richest man
STORYLeah Simpson
- Inditex co-founder Amancio Ortega will pass the reigns over to his youngest daughter in April, but has she been secretly influencing your fashion style for years?
- Marta Ortega Perez, who will head brands Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear and Bershka, chose to wear Valentino on her star-studded wedding day
The year 2021 certainly ended on a high for Marta Ortega Pérez. The fashion powerhouse was appointed chair of fashion retail company Inditex, which owns Zara, in December last year and is set to begin the role in April. But who is the Zara heiress who will inherit her 85-year-old father Amancio Ortega’s massive fortune, and has she been secretly influencing your fashion style for years?
Her father is Spain’s richest man with a net worth of US$73 billion
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Amancio Ortega stepped down from chairing the company in 2011 when Pablo Isla took over. But he still maintains a 60 per cent stake in Inditex making him one of the richest people on the planet (the richest when share prices spiked in 2015), and the wealthiest man in Spain.
Marta’s CV starts off just like yours
Pérez started her career as a sales assistant at a Zara store in London after graduating from the European business school at the University of London in 2007, and later took on positions in sales merchandising and branding at the parent company Inditex. She’s worked at the company for more than 15 years now.
Now aged 38, she has bypassed her older siblings to add the most impressive role on her resume. From April 1, she will lead the fashion empire, in the role of non-executive chairperson. When her father announced Pérez as his successor, share prices plummeted by 6 per cent, dropping more than US$3 billion from founder Ortega’s fortune, reports Forbes. Still, they rebounded by 4.5 per cent the next day.
Ortega family net worth under the microscope
