New York City: In a tight competition between Zara co-founder Amancio Ortega and Bill Gates, Ortega lost the spot of world’s richest within a few minutes.
The Spanish retail tycoon and Zara co-founder Amancio Ortega became the world’s richest person on Tuesday afternoon before losing the spot to Bill Gates once again, as per Forbes.
According to a report by Financial Express, Ortega took a lead of a few million on the Microsoft boss before he lagged behind as the US Markets closed.
At 1:45 PM, EST, Bill Gates was the world’s richest person with a lead of few million. At 2 PM, Ortega lessened the gap. While Bill Gates’ net worth was at $84.722 billion, the Zara boss’ wealth was $84.72 billion.
Within a few minutes, Gates net worth dropped by 7 million dollars allowing Amancio Ortega to become the world’s richest man. But, when the market ended Ortega finished $100 million behind Bill Gates, on the second spot.
Bill Gates has kept the position of world’s richest person for 18 out of last 23 years on Forbes’ annual Billionaires List, published each spring. However, this isn’t the first time when Gates position on top was challenged.
He has been passed three times in last two years, twice by Ortega and once by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Ortega who founded Zara’s parent company Inditex passed Gates for the first time in October 2015. Amazon boss Jeff Bezos was the world’s richest person for a single morning as his net worth surged above $90 billion.