By Lauren Debter
Zara billionaire founder Amancio Ortega gave the reins of the Inditex Group to his youngest daughter in a surprise move that restores the world’s largest clothing retailer under family control.
Marta Ortega Pérez, 37, will take over as president in April, according to a statement issued Tuesday by Zara’s parent company, Inditex. Pérez has been with the company for the past 15 years. She started as a sales clerk in London, before taking on higher positions in women’s merchandising, branding and other areas. However, he did not hold any official title and has never served on the Board.
Pérez will succeed Pablo Isla, who worked at Inditex for about two decades – first as CEO and most recently as CEO. Inditex shares fell 6% as soon as the news of the succession became known, “extinguishing” more than $ 3 billion of Amancio Ortega’s fortune.
“I have lived with this company since I was a child,” Pérez said in a statement. “I always said I would dedicate my life to building on my parents’ legacy.”
Amancio Ortega, a distant media billionaire, became rich from the clothing industry to later create a large real estate portfolio around the world.
His latest move, with the placement of 37-year-old Marta at the head of the Group, restores the Zara chain under the control of the family, after a decade run by “foreigners”. Amancio Ortega, 85, resigned as president in 2011. However, he remains the main shareholder in the company with 60%, making him one of the richest people on the planet with a fortune of $ 73 billion.
By his choice, Ortega “overtook” his two older children, which he had from his first marriage. Neither is actively involved in the Group. However, his daughter Sandra Ortega Mera, 53, is a major shareholder, having inherited a 4.5% stake following the sudden death of her mother and co-founder Rosalia Mera in 2013. This makes her the second richest person in the world. Spain, with assets valued at a net worth of $ 6.9 billion. Mera, a psychologist by profession, lives with her husband and their three children in La Coruna, in the same seaside town where the company is based. Ortega also has a son.
The 85-year-old billionaire started the business in 1975 with his then-wife Mera, who sewed some of the first clothes they sold. The couple divorced the same year. The company has become a leader in the “fast fashion” industry, keeping prices and inventory levels low and launching new styling options faster than its competitors. Today, the chain has 6,600 stores and sales reach $ 16.7 billion annually.
Inditex is trying to recover from the effects of the pandemic, as sales were affected by the temporary lockdown that applied to stores and the decline in spending on clothing purchases. Last year, it lost $ 300 million in unsold stocks.
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* Inditex: The new president of the group is the owner’s daughter, Marta Ortega Perez
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Source: Forbes
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