INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Warren Buffett No Longer World’s Second Richest Person

By Dustin Wicksell
Published on: 08:17 PST, Jun 3, 2015

Investor Warren Buffett has fallen from his spot as the second richest man in the world and now ranks in third place, behind Amancio Ortega.

Ortega is the Spanish fast-fashion baron behind Zara’s, according to Quartz, and he has amassed a net worth of $71.5 billion. This places him second on the list of the world’s richest people, ahead of famed investor Warren Buffett, whose net worth now stands at $70.2 billion. The duo are superseded only by Bill Gates, whose fortune totals $85.5 billion as of June 2.

Buffett would still rank in second place if not for his philanthropic activities as Yahoo News points out. Buffett has famously pledged to divest himself of much of his wealth by the time of his death, and last year, the noted investor donated $2.8 billion of Berkshire Hathaway stock to a handful of charities, most notably the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Ortega holds a 59 percent stake in Inditex, the world’s largest clothing retailer, and the parent company of Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, and Pull and Bear. Inditex currently operates more than 6,600 stores, and has developed a unique model that keeps production out of the far east and close to retail locations, a strategy that allows the company to react quickly to changing fashion trends. Much of Ortega’s wealth, however, has come from property investments in major European and American cities, which are held through two distinct investment vehicles in Spain.

Warren Buffett’s fortune, by contrast, comes largely from his controlling stake in Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate that he has built over the past five decades as the Inquisitr previously reported. In March, Buffett undertook a $4.1 billion acquisition of one of the United States’ largest auto dealer groups. In addition, Buffett also agreed earlier this year to help finance a merger between H.J. Heinz and Kraft Foods Group Inc., giving Berkshire Hathaway a roughly 25 percent stake in the resulting company. Two of Buffett’s largest equity investments, American Express Co. and Coca-Cola Co., have underperformed in recent months, however, leading Berkshire Hathaway to decline by roughly five percent.

Earlier this year, Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting was held in Omaha, Nebraska. Though the gathering is a yearly event, 2015’s incarnation was unique, celebrating 50 years of Berkshire Hathaway with Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger at the helm.

[Photo by Paul Morigi / Getty Images]

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