1
Amancio Ortega
Estimated net worth: USD 116 billion
Spain’s Wealthiest People: Who They Are and How They Built Their Fortunes
If you live in Spain, especially if you are building a business here, names such as Ortega, Roig or Pérez should sound familiar. And even if you are hearing them for the first time, you have almost certainly made use of the products and services created by their multibillion-dollar companies. La Cotorra explains who they are — the richest people in Spain.
Spain’s Wealthiest People: Top 6
Look at your wardrobe: do you own anything from Zara, Bershka, Massimo Dutti or Oysho? Perhaps there is a reed diffuser from Zara Home on your bedside table? Or maybe you wear jewellery from Uterqüe? All these brands (and many others) belong to the Inditex group, founded by one of the wealthiest people not only in Spain but in the entire world — 89-year-old Amancio Ortega.
Ortega’s story begins in 1936 in the province of León, in the small town of Busdongo de Arbas. Born into a modest family, he left school at the age of 13 and started selling men’s shirts in a shop called Gala.
We will not go into the full details of Ortega’s biography — writer Covadonga O’Shea has already done that thoroughly in her book The Zara Phenomenon. But a few dates are worth noting. The first Zara store opened in 1975 in the centre of A Coruña. Over the years it brought Inditex worldwide fame and earned the Ortega family a multibillion-dollar fortune.
By 2013, Ortega had surpassed Steve Jobs in the Forbes ranking. Today, the king of fast fashion owns the investment company Pontegadea, real estate across the globe, equestrian clubs, yachts, and a charitable foundation which, in 2017, donated EUR 320 million to support Spain’s healthcare services.
Ortega stepped down as chairman of Inditex in 2011, retaining a controlling stake while passing day-to-day management to his eldest daughter, Sandra Ortega. In addition to Sandra, he has two more children from two marriages — his daughter Marta and son Marcos.
2
Juan Roig and Hortensia Herrero
Estimated net worth: USD 15 billion
Where do you most often do your weekly food shopping? Where do you buy household essentials or grab a bottle of water after the gym? Probably at Mercadona — the largest supermarket chain in Spain.
Juan Roig and Hortensia Herrero have been married since 1973. They studied together at the University of Navarra and later built the company which today employs more than 100,000 people across Spain and Portugal. The first Mercadona shops were created by Juan’s father, Francisco Roig, but in 1981 Juan and his three brothers bought the business from their parents. At that time, there were only eight Mercadona stores. Today, the company operates around 1,700 shops in Spain and 40 in Portugal.
Hortensia Herrero owns 28 per cent of Mercadona and serves as its vice-president. Beyond the family business, Herrero is well known to Valencians as a patron of the arts: in 2023 she founded an arts centre that houses her private collection.
3
Sandra Ortega
Estimated net worth: USD 10.3 billion
Amancio Ortega’s eldest daughter, Sandra, is the third-wealthiest person in Spain. She controls 4.5 per cent of Inditex and 5 per cent of the pharmaceutical company Pharma Mar.
Little is known about the private life of Spain’s richest woman — she keeps a low profile. She has three children with her former husband, Pablo Gómez: their son Martiño and daughters Antía and Uxía. Sandra studied psychology at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia and now primarily manages the Fundación Paideia Galiza, established by her mother to support psychological and psychiatric assistance programmes.
4
Rafael del Pino
Estimated net worth: USD 8.9 billion
The Del Pino family, led by Rafael and his sister María, owns Spain’s major infrastructure conglomerate, Ferrovial. The company was founded in 1952 by their father.
In Spain, Ferrovial is the largest construction and municipal services company. Internationally, it owns real estate, manages major motorways and oversees airports — including Heathrow in London, one of the busiest airports in the world.
Not much is publicly known about the family’s personal lives. Rafael, for instance, is divorced, has six children, lives in Madrid and rarely gives interviews. Ferrovial, however, often appears in the Spanish press, including in connection with allegations of irregularities in public-sector contracts.
5
Miguel Fluxà Rosselló
Estimated net worth: USD 4.5 billion
If you have ever stayed at an Iberostar hotel, your holiday contributed to the fortune of the Fluxà–Rosselló family — one of Spain’s most influential hotel dynasties with hundreds of resorts and hotels across the globe.
Miguel Fluxà was born in 1938 into a family of entrepreneurs; his father Antonio Fluxà was the founder of the family’s long-standing shoe business, established in the 19th century. In 1986, father and son opened the first Iberostar hotel. Today, the group owns over a hundred properties in dozens of countries.
The 87-year-old billionaire has long been married. He and his wife, Sabine Tinemann, have two daughters — Gloria and Sabine — both of whom play active roles in the family business.
6
Florentino Pérez
Estimated net worth: USD 4.2 billion
Football fans, especially supporters of Real Madrid, will certainly recognise this name. Florentino Pérez is the president of both the football and basketball divisions of Real Madrid. His wealth, however, comes primarily from the construction sector. In 1997, Pérez became head of ACS Group — a company that went on to become one of the leaders of Spain’s construction industry.
He also took an active part in Spanish politics, serving as secretary-general of the Democratic Party of Spain in the late 1980s.
Pérez was widowed in 2012. He was married to María Ángeles Sandoval for more than 40 years, and together they raised three children — Eduardo, María Ángeles and Florentino.
