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The executive president of the Iberostar Group, Mallorcan Miguel Fluxá Roselló, is one of Spain’s ten wealthiest individuals this year, with €3.3 billion, a fortune that has lifted him from 16th to 9th place, according to the Forbes list. In addition to being a prominent shareholder, Fluxà owns 51% of Sayglo Holding SL, a family holding company he shares with his daughters, Sabina and Gloria, who each own 24.5%. Also from the Balearics, the shareholders of Corporación Financiera Alba, Carlos and Juan March Delgado, are ranked 16th and 17th on the list, with fortunes linked to the banking sector amounting to €2 billion and €1.9 billion, respectively. Within the same family dynasty, Gloria March, who owns 15% of the entity, ranks 69th with a fortune of €700 million, while her sister Leonor March, who also owns 15% of the business, has a fortune of €500 million and ranks 89th. In addition, Carmen Riu Güell, co-owner of the Riu hotel group, rises to 27th place on the list with a fortune of €1.5 billion. Her brother, Luis Riu Güell, who has been running the hotel business since Carmen’s retirement from her executive position, follows her on the list with the same net worth. Isabel García Lorca occupies 64th place on the list. As president of the Piñero hotel group, she has a fortune of €790 million. Four places behind her is Gabriel Escarrer Jr. and his family, owners of the Meliá hotel chain, with a fortune of €760 million. From Ibiza, Abel Matutes and his family, owners of the Palladium Hotel Group, remain in 86th place on this Forbes list with a fortune of €600 million. According to the Forbes list updated on Tuesday, Spain’s 100 richest people have a combined wealth of €258.87 billion, almost 7% more than last year, which is a significant increase, but one that hides an ‘unprecedented’ generational concentration. Most of them are entrepreneurs who turned small family businesses into multinational corporations 40 years ago. Since then, Forbes explains, the country has not produced a new wave of wealth creators in emerging sectors (especially technology) and there is a lack of innovation. Amancio Ortega (89), founder and majority shareholder of Inditex, is once again the richest man in Spain. He has accumulated £109.9 billion, but with a ‘hit’ this year of almost £10.3 billion less than in 2024. Ortega’s fortune has fallen by 8.6%. The main causes have been the stock market correction of Inditex (which has fallen by just over 8% and almost 4% since January) and the cooling of the textile sector. The founder of Inditex, famous for Zara, alone accounts for 42.5% of the total wealth of the 100 richest Spaniards. This concentration is unparalleled in other developed European economies. In addition, the Galician billionaire, who controls his assets through his company Pontegadea Inversiones, has re-entered the 2025 “top 10” of the Forbes United States billionaires list, in ninth place. While Ortega’s fortune is dwindling, Rafael del Pino, president of Ferrovial and third on the Forbes list, has increased his fortune to £8 billion, up from £7.15 billion last year, and Juan Roig (Mercadona; fourth) is also emerging. Roig has seen one of the biggest increases of the year, to £7.9 billion, compared to £5.78 billion in 2024 (up 36.7%). In terms of family clans, Sandra Ortega (Inditex) also adjusts her figures, with £10 billion compared to £10.39 billion in the previous year. Between father and daughter, they total more than £120 billion, almost half of the total on the list. In general, and as the report concludes, the rich have not stopped making money, although they are doing so elsewhere.
