Meet the mysterious retail guru who just surpassed Bill Gates to become the world's richest man

Zara's mysterious founder, Amancio Ortega, just surpassed Bill Gates to become the richest man in the world.

Shares of the Spanish retailer's parent company, Inditex, rose 2.5%. That boosted Ortega's fortune to $79.5 billion, according to Forbes.

Bill Gates' net worth is $78.5 billion.

Despite Ortega's impressive net worth, many people have never heard of him.

The 80-year-old Spaniard fiercely guards his privacy and gives few interviews to the press.

Ortega founded fast-fashion giant Zara with his then-wife Rosalia in 1975. Today, his retail company Inditex SA - which owns Zara, Massimo Dutti, and Pull&Bear - has over 6,600 outposts around the world.