The owner of the world's largest chain of clothing stores, Amancio Ortega, replaced Warren Buffett as the second richest man in the world on Bloomberg's list, due to a 17 percent jump in property values in recent years.
Ortega's assets are estimated at $71,5 billion, while Buffett's "heavy" $70,2 billion.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates is still at the helm with $85,5 billion, reports Poslovni dnevnik.
Ortega owns 59 percent of Spain's Inditex, the company behind the Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bershka and Pull and Bear clothing store chains.
Although Inditex with 6,6 thousand stores around the world has an annual income of over 18 billion euros, the bulk of Ortega's wealth was created by real estate.
Namely, since Inditex was listed on the stock exchange in 2001, Ortega earned three billion euros in dividends, which he invested in commercial real estate in large European and American cities, through two investment companies, Pontegadea Inversiones and Partler.
Ortega is known as a very secretive businessman who rarely appears in the media. He has reportedly only given three interviews so far. He rarely goes on vacation, and is known for having lunch with his employees in the company restaurant every day.
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