by Ekrem Duman | Sep 4, 2026 | Spain Founders & Dynasties, Startup
⚡ TL;DRJuan Roig, born in 1949, bought his parents’ small Valencian supermarket chain in 1981 and built it into Mercadona, which posted €41,858m of sales and €1,729m of net profit in 2025. He and his wife Hortensia Herrero own about 80%. Since 2010 he...
by Ekrem Duman | Sep 4, 2026 | Spain Founders & Dynasties, Startup
⚡ TL;DRPuig, the Barcelona fragrance and beauty house founded in 1914, listed on 3 May 2024 at €24.50 a share, raising about €2.6bn at a valuation near €13.9bn in Europe’s largest IPO of the year. The family kept roughly 74% of the capital and...
by Ekrem Duman | Sep 4, 2026 | Spain Founders & Dynasties, Startup
⚡ TL;DRGrifols, the Barcelona plasma-medicines group founded in 1909, lost roughly 40% of its market value in the days after Gotham City Research published a short report on 9 January 2024 accusing it of hiding debt and flattering EBITDA through deals with the family...
by Ekrem Duman | Sep 4, 2026 | Spain Founders & Dynasties, Startup
⚡ TL;DRFour generations of Botíns have run Banco Santander since Emilio Botín Sr became chairman in 1934, turning a Cantabrian regional bank into a group with roughly 175 million customers and €14.1bn of profit in 2025. Emilio Botín Jr bought...
by Ekrem Duman | Sep 4, 2026 | Spain Founders & Dynasties, Startup
⚡ TL;DRPontegadea, Amancio Ortega’s holding company, reported a net profit of €10,055m for 2025, up 7.8%, on total assets of €117bn. It owns 59.3% of Inditex, receives more than €3.2bn a year in Inditex dividends, and reinvests them into a...
