Amancio Ortega, Founder Of Fast Fashion Brand Zara Empire, Abdicated.

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Summit abdicate to select successor

Theo Ortega, Amman's richest man in Spain, is also one of the world's lowest profile millionaires.

Inditex group is the parent company of the fast fashion giant Zara brand. It was only a small shop built by Theo of Amman in La Coruna, a small town in Galicia, Spain 35 years ago.

No photo taking, no dramatic farewell and no ostentation.

The 74 year old billionaire, who avoided media interviews, rarely appeared in the public eye. He even pushed away the chance to meet with the Spanish crown prince, so that he could tell his staff that he would take over the Inditex group's current Vice President and chief executive, Pablo Ella (PabloIsla), to take the helm of the fashion carrier.

Amman Theo Ortega said, "dear friends, it's time to take responsibility and expectations. I will appoint Pablo Ira as the next CEO in the board meeting."

Similarly, for the successor, Amman Theo praised him for his "experience and vigour".

During his 5 years in the company, Ella, 47, brought Zara and other brands of Inditex group to fashion lovers all over Asia and set up the first Zara shop, Zara.cm.

He grew up in the poor agricultural area of Galicia, northwest of Spain. He was a railway worker's child and later became the ninth millionaire in Forbes's list. This change is as hard as explaining why he chose to abdicate at this time.

But Ortega's age and company's good performance during the global economic crisis seem to show some clues.

The clothing Empire Inditex which he founded includes brand Pull&Bear, MassimoDutti, Bershka and ZaraHome, and a new jewelry chain Uterq u E, which are Zara's sister brands. Their turnover increased by 14% to 8 billion 900 million euros in the first 3 quarters of last year.

"Resignation is the best case."

"The company shows strong adaptability," says Professor IESE, a professor of marketing at Barcelona business school.

Ortega is almost 75 years old. Fortunately, he is still in good health. It is much better to change a helm at this time than to wait for Ortega to get sick or the company's condition is bad.

Ortega will retain his 60% stake in the group, and his successor has become the focus of public attention.

When Ortega, the founder of the Zara brand, worked hard behind the scenes, Ella would deal with the relationship between the company and the government, stock trading and attend the shareholders' meeting.

Ortega was very low-key. It was said that when the Intidex group went public in 2001 and its share prices soared, he only watched TV for 15 minutes and had lunch in the company's restaurant.

Build the largest retail group from scratch

"Once, the Prime Minister of Spain convened the most powerful 20 business tycoons to discuss the economic crisis, only he did not go."

Nueno said.

Nueno believes that the appointment of Ella is a sign that Intidex will not become a family business. Other commentators believe that this is just an expedient measure, using a loyal and popular manager to ensure the inheritance of family businesses until Ortega's daughter Marta (Marta) is ready to take over the company.

Like her father, Marta, the 26 year old man, did his first job, running errands for others, and slowly starting from the bottom of his father's company. At the very beginning, in 2007, she worked as a shop assistant in a store in Bershka, London, then went to Barcelona and Shanghai for training, and recently went to Intidex's headquarters in Altai, Spain.

Ortega has long been known as "the nightmare of advertisers", but people in the Spanish business world are very fond of discussing him.

His story of starting from scratch inspired a generation of Spanish textile entrepreneurs.

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Because he was afraid of violating his privacy and causing displeasure, the information collected by some of his colleagues and friends was incomplete.

However, the synopsis of the story is the same: without formal education, Ortega began to deliver for a skirt maker when he was 13 years old, then slowly became a tailor's assistant.

By studying the Commission of distributors, he found profits in the entire product and sales channels, and realized how important it is to deliver goods directly to customers.

So he began to focus on how to skip middlemen and sell products directly to consumers.

His first attempt at improving himself was in the 60s of last century when he had a lingerie shop. He noticed an expensive and fancy brand of pajamas, and spent several weeks in his wife's family's living room, slowly changing it into his first high fashion imitation.

This dress is selling well, and other styles are slowly coming out.

When he was 27 years old, he owned his first factory. In 1975, he opened his first Zara, with bright windows and endless series of fashion, and the opposite door of Galicia's most stylish department store. It seems to mean the challenges that the clothing retailing industry will soon face.

Because of this success, Ortega continued to open a new store. He was very good at finding suitable locations for every new store.

By 1989, Ortega had successfully operated nearly 100 stores in Spain in Zara.

Today, just like Spanish chowder and San Gree, Zara has become one of the symbols of Spain, and Intidex group is already the largest retailer in the world, surpassing its competitors H&M and Gap.

Business schools all over the world regard it as a learning case.

To some extent, the success of the Intidex group is due to its warehouse system, otherwise they can not quickly adjust the goods on the shelves to meet the needs of customers.

Work in low key and work enthusiastically

Ortega has now accumulated about $25 billion in wealth. According to the Forbes rankings, he has industry in Paris, London, Lisbon and Miami, and a horse race field, a share of the Football Association, and he has invested in natural gas, tourism and banking.

The billionaire did not like to take photographs, and only a few photos were blurred, like paparazzi candid.

No one has ever seen him wearing a tie (except for a wedding).

It was not until the first annual annual report of 2001 that he made his first official portrait.

He does not like working with people who wear uniform clothes. He is said to be faced with endless harassment from investment bankers when he prepares Intidex group to go public.

"We know it must be very hard for him."

At that time, a banker told reporters.

According to Nueno, although Ortega's shop is growing at an astonishing rate of increase in every 36 hours, in fact, compared with the expansion strategy, he prefers to consider the layout of shops and clothing design. He is likely to continue working after retirement.

"I don't think Ortega will play golf," Nueno said. "He likes companies from his bones. I don't think he will give up his hobbies until he dies."